When will kids be allowed to just have a cold again?

[HugeAckmansWife]

Snotty, phlegm. No temp. But school sent child home and can't go back til PCR comes back. So I'll be off too while my A level and GCSE classes are mid-assessments. At what point are we going to move the goalposts on this and remember that kids get colds that aren't Covid? What's the point of vaccinating if we're still going to have to isolate etc?

You ask what the point in vaccinating is if children still have to isolate but the vast majority of people haven’t had both doses, and many many haven’t had their first yet so I think you’ve answered your own question! When everyone is vaccinated or has had the opportunity to be. Let’s not forget many teachers are in their 20s and 30s so haven’t been vaccinated yet, it’s not really fair on them to loosen up all the restrictions yet just because the older age groups are now feeling safer x

Thankfully my son’s school are very realistic and say that unless the child has got a nasty cough with an accompanying temperature, then they can be in school.

Kids can’t just keep being sent home because they’ve got a runny nose or a slight cough. It’s insane.

No idea but my ds has had zero asthma attacks for the first time in his life over the last 12 months. His consultant said he's seen similar across a high percentage of his patients and think the reduction of coughs and colds in school plus the enhanced hygiene methods is the reason.

When covid went through our school before Christmas (over 50% of staff tested positive in the end and multiple children and families), children were often not getting any of the 3 symptoms adults get - sore throats, headaches, lack of energy and stomach pain/nausea were the most common symptoms. So it’s not easy for primary schools to know what to take seriously and what to let through, tbh, given the fact children often don’t get the same symptoms as adults. I’m sure you can mostly get away with assuming it’s not covid - until you are unlucky and let people stay in school who then spread it like wildfire, that is. Sore throat was a common symptom in the adults - usually they got that and/or a headache first and didn’t get classic symptoms for a few days after. People coming in feeling like they might be getting “just a cold” therefore turned out to be very unhelpful.

Lateral flow tests are not suitable for testing people with symptoms. Their use is for mass testing of asymptomatic people.

DD is in college and she has had a cold or hay fever (not sure which) these last few days.

She's been in college as she hasn't had a temp, cough or change in taste/smell.

Lateral flow tests are not suitable for testing people with symptoms. Their use is for mass testing of asymptomatic people

What’s the science behind this?

How is it they can detect asymptomatic Covid but not symptomatic Covid?

What’s the difference?

A good and thorough explanation of both tests and their purposes

www.bmj.com/content/372/bmj.n287

@ThornAmongstRoses

Lateral flow tests are not suitable for testing people with symptoms. Their use is for mass testing of asymptomatic people

What’s the science behind this?

How is it they can detect asymptomatic Covid but not symptomatic Covid?

What’s the difference?

They are not as accurate as pcr tests but they are better than nothing for asymptomatic people.

So if you have symptoms you really need a pcr test. Whereas twice weely testing of school children/nurses etc will hopefully pick up some, but not all asymptomatic cases that would otherwise go undetetcted.

@ThornAmongstRoses because they’re not that reliable. They only detect covid 50-80% of the time so it’s not that they cannot detect symptomatic covid. The whole idea of them is that even though they aren’t that reliable they still catch SOME of the asymptomatic cases, who then isolate and don’t spread it. They’re not designed to be used in place of a proper PCR test which is highly accurate, but in addition to PCR testing of symptomatic cases, because then we would be detecting less cases of covid not more.

They have low sensitivity, so may miss a lot of cases.
However they have high specificity so if you get a positive, it's almost certainly a positive.
Tests for people who are ill need higher sensitivity, to miss fewer positives.
For mass testing of asymptomatic people (who wouldn't otherwise be tested) a lower sensitivity means you won't falsely diagnose loads of people, but you will find some that would otherwise be missed and take them out of circulation.

Kids don’t tend to present with the main three symptoms anyway. The kid with the tummy ache who feels a bit tired but is in school is FAR more likely to have Covid than the snotty, coughing one.

Peaplant said it more concisely!

I know it’s frustrating but lots of people haven’t yet had a vaccination. If we let it run wild in schools then it’ll cause disruption to far more adults and if it gets out of hand we’d be in lockdown again. The vaccinations seem to be helping but aren’t the only thing that will keep cases in check.

Aargh yes hay-fever season. Aka the two month period of the year where dd has a permanent cough. Brilliant.

@Comefromaway

DD is in college and she has had a cold or hay fever (not sure which) these last few days.

She's been in college as she hasn't had a temp, cough or change in taste/smell.

She doesn’t have any of the three key covid symptoms. When would she have had to isolate?

It’s worrying that schools are telling children to come in with coughs unless they’ve also got a temperature. That’s absolutely not what the guidelines currently say. It’s a pain but potential covid needs a pcr test to rule ig out until public health advice changes. It’s a pain in the arse but you can’t have a child with actual covid in school or just going about their business as normal, especially as the rules are relaxed.

Schools seem to have different rules on this. Thankfully, ours is being sensible about it and we do not have to keep children off with colds. If they had a continuous cough with the cold then that would be different, but a snotty cold is fine!

LFTs can detect positive covid cases, even symptomatic ones.
It's just that they aren't as reliable as PCRs, so if so one has covid symptoms then they should be checked with the more reliable and more accurate form of testing, not relying on a lesser option.

They give a good idea and the number of false positives is still pretty low. They do also give out false negatives though, as a higher rate than false positives, so,shouldn't be the ONLY test used when someone is showing symptoms.

Schools seem to be a law unto themselves unfortunately.

One of DD1's classmates was sent home for sneezing a couple of weeks ago. Sneezing. It's just bonkers. I have 5yo DD2 at home with me at the moment. She has a cold, but if I'd sent her in I fully anticipate that they would have sent her home at some point during the day and I have pretty much back to back meetings so it was easier to just keep her off 🤷🏼‍♀️

@TheTurn0fTheScrew

I don't think this is a universal policy. DC1 had a heavy cold in the Autumn - very snotty, catarrh, watering eyes, but no cough or temperature. School were entirely comfortable with her being in.

Most schools would, and should, admit a child with these symptoms in, as they don't have one of the 3 main covid symptoms. Though an obviously ill child is better at home, if they are also feeling poorly with their cold.

However, if a child has a cough or a temperature with their cold they should be off until they receive a negative pcr result. Even if you don't think it's covid children should be following the same rules as adults. And even if the cough doesn't last all day, or the temperature is t sustained.

I am pretty sure this is how I picked up covid. I ended up in hospital needing treatment, have long covid 7 months later and ongoing medical treatment probably for life now.

The children I taught had 'a cold' - parents subsequently tested positive too. Most of the children were never tested.

My cough was not sustained or continuous really, it was barely a cough - it was like clearing your throat.
My temperature raised to just under 38, for an hour or two. I only know of this as I was being monitored throughout the day and night in hospital. I didn't feel hot at any point.

But a lot of people have not been vaccinated yet. And we don't know when it is "just a cold" and when it is not.

In many countries it is the norm to take days off when you have flu and colds, covid or not, both to recover and and to avoid spreading to other people. In the UK we seem to think it is normally to keep coughing and sneezing around people.

I too am wondering this.
All seems OTT. Lacking in common sense.

Two statements I keep hearing.

1. most children barely know they get Covid, they don’t even get the main symptoms. It’s no big deal. They get a slight illness.

2. why is my child being made to isolate until tested for a slight illness?

Every other country acknowledges symptoms in children are far more than the main three. Including sore throat and runny nose. Some schools must be baring this in mind and testing all symptoms to be safe.

Purple - the OP referred to children being sent home with colds even though they don’t have any of the three symptoms.

My DC school have been good about it. If it's a cold they go in. I've sent both DC in with an obvious cold with no issues. The only thing they won't tolerate is a temperature or if they're had D&V.