Are there other bugs/virus’s doing the rounds?

[Shibees]

Or is everything Covid?

Since schools went back on 8th March, several of my daughters classmates (primary school age) have had sore throats & snotty noses. All have continued to go to school as they’ve been well in themselves and have not had a cough, temperature or change to smell/taste.

Surely the fact that children haven’t mixed in ages means that they’ll be likely to catch colds & other bugs that aren’t Covid?

Or should ALL symptoms mean isolating, testing & only returning with a negative PCR?

I am intrigued as to what other schools in other areas are like at the moment in regards to bugs circulating.

Ds's school (primary) and dd's school (secondary) are asking for kids with cold like symptoms like snotty noses and sore throats to stay home and get tested (although lots of them aren't!)
Yes, there are other colds/viruses around but the school are being cautious when they ask this. I hope they will continue to be cautious when ds finally goes back to school after Easter, and hope parents will test.

Yes loada! My DD’s have been in nursery through all lockdowns & there’s been the usual. Colds, coughs, chicken pox, sick bugs, hand/foot/mouth 😫 we’ve not had a break from the winter bugs 🙈

Bear in mind, many school aged children will have younger siblings in childcare. & that thousands of parents can’t WFH. Kids with parents who are doctors, nurses, bus drivers, taxi drivers, warehouse workers, supermarket workers, teachers, nursery staff, care home workers etc etc etc

There are definitely other things going around that aren't covid. Those could also be symptoms of covid though. Testing and isolating is only required for temperatures/new coughs/change in taste or smell so probably lots getting missed.

There are definitely other bugs floating about. Some schools have taken their lead from NHS trusts though in an effort to be cautious. My old trust required anyone with any cold-like/flu/new onset of known allergy symptoms (so seasonal hay fever etc.) to isolate and test. That was from about last September.

DD’s primary school only ask for the three main symptoms to be isolated and tested but the majority of parents seem to be taking it into their own hands and keeping their dc away for minor cold symptoms too.

I've just had a hideous cold off my child in nursery, had a fever and cough, but negative Covid tests and it cleared up quickly. There are definitely many other viruses out there (but best to test and make sure it's not Covid).

We all have coughs and colds atm but all tests negative.

Daughter has caught conjunctivitis too from school! (Reception).

We had our primary aged son tested on Saturday as he developed a sore throat and nasty cough Friday evening. Came back negative. I am now starting with the sore throat Just got to keep testing I suppose, and hope one day we can stop thinking about it quite so much.

Interesting to see your responses.

My daughters school have only specified the 3 main symptoms for keeping children at home & getting tested.

Other schools I know have a long list of symptoms that need isolating for.

I wish there was some consistency but then we would be living in a perfect world! 😂

@AllBellyandBoobs

We had our primary aged son tested on Saturday as he developed a sore throat and nasty cough Friday evening. Came back negative. I am now starting with the sore throat Just got to keep testing I suppose, and hope one day we can stop thinking about it quite so much.

That’s exactly it - it’s exhausting thinking every little symptom we get could be Covid. It’s the sensible thing to do but I do hope we reach a point where we don’t have to run off for a test for every sore throat or runny nose.

I've managed to get conjunctivitis which is impressive as we have been strict about the rules as DH is mid 70s and disabled so vulnerable, get my shopping delivered, the occasional trip to a shop if I run out of milk or something is as daring as it gets. Can't figure it out.

Well of course there are. There always are. Covid has no affect on the infection rate of unrelated illnesses. What an odd question.

Of course there are. DH has his usual end of term sore throat/cold.

I got my ds tested because he had a sore throat a couple of weeks ago. It was very unusual for him as he has never complained of a sore throat before so I thought it was better safe than sorry. I also had a sore throat as well as a cough when I had Covid in December. Test was negative.

I have had a virus with muscle aches, sore throat, fatigue and a bit of a cough. Covid negative.

Had Covid last year.

@squashyhat

Well of course there are. There always are. Covid has no affect on the infection rate of unrelated illnesses. What an odd question.

@squashyhat

It’s not an odd question. I see so many threads on here about cold symptoms turning out to be Covid and also that flu has been virtually non existent this season. So I was intrigued as to whether other parents are finding that their children or their children’s classmates are coming down with usual seasonal illnesses.

We were at home from 18th December (when my daughter broke up for Christmas) until she started back on 8th March so we’ve not had any of the usual bugs as we’ve had no contact with anyone. We also haven’t had a sense of what’s been going in schools and whether bugs have been doing the rounds.

My DS complained of sore throat mid-week last week. Did not go to school on Friday. I caught whatever he had off him and now my other child has it too. Pretty sure it is not covid, as no other symptoms.

@squashyhat

Well of course there are. There always are. Covid has no affect on the infection rate of unrelated illnesses. What an odd question.

Covid doesn't affect the infection rates of other illnesses, but the measures we take to prevent Covid transmission do. There has been almost no flu this year (!) because masking, distancing etc. are measures that work incredibly well against flu.

Chicken pox is going round here

I came down with typical cough and cold symptoms about a week after my dc returned to school. They were both fine so I can only assume one of the little darlings must have passed it to me asymptomatically. Two Covid tests were both negative though and although I felt really quite rough for a couple of days (I think it was a worse than normal cold because I haven’t been exposed to as many germs as normal this year!) I’m fine again now.

Currently suffering with a tickly cough, runny nose, headache and fever. Already had covid back in June and also had first dose of vaccine. In addition have done loads of lateral flow tests and a pcr and all have come back negative, so definitely not covid. Got it off my DS who caught it in his primary school. Really weird, because it’s actually made me feel very ill, whereas when I had covid I had no symptoms at all and only caught it by having a pcr before my c section.

Dc1 has had a sore throat and runny nose.
Interestingly like pp dc1 hadnt complained of a sore throat - until covid last apr. Now every cold is a sore throat too. Could be an age thing too maybe

My house is full of cold caught by my son at nursery. Tests are negative but theres so much talk of false negatives I dont even feel relieved.