No temperature but runny nose and mild cough

[ImbarbaraB]

Would this be enough to need to do a PCR?

No loss of taste or smell, no temperature, but runny nose, cough, mildly sore throat and fuzzy head

Been doing LFT but they obviously aren’t suited for these things anyway

[quote MurdockTheMouse]@zoeydollie A new, continuous cough means coughing a lot for more than an hour, or 3 or more coughing episodes in 24 hours. So it’s not really pretty much any cough or there would be no need for the word continuous.[/quote]
If you only coughed once or twice in 24 hours, would you even describe it as "having a cough"?

[quote ineedaholidaynow]@Scaredycatmoo76 are you a doctor or a soothsayer?[/quote]
I’m just me!

Ok op
You agree with me
You basically have the sniffles
Hide this thread
See how you go today
And I reckon tomorrow you’ll wake up and feel absolutely fine

My son pos this week and I've had "cold" symptoms since then, been testing neg until last night with 2 pos lateral tests, just gone for PCR this morning. In normal times I would have said it's just cold but seemingly not, best get tested. I've had both jabs also!

surely lft will show up if you are positive?

@Scaredycatmoo76

Ok op You agree with me You basically have the sniffles Hide this thread See how you go today And I reckon tomorrow you’ll wake up and feel absolutely fine

The point of testing isn't necessarily about whether you feel fine or not though, it's about not spreading your infection to others.

If you are describing yourself as having a mild cough, then it’s a cough that needs a PCR test would be a great general rule of thumb. The term continuous cough seems to be too confusing and I suspect doesn’t mean to the general public what it means to the HCPs that wrote the guidance.

You need a PCR test, sorry.

@AbsolutelyPatsy

surely lft will show up if you are positive?

I think LFTs identify just over 50% of positives, so maybe/maybe not.

The issue with LFTs is NOT that “they don’t show positive if you have symptoms” (as sooooo many people get wrong), it’s that their unreliability is such that if you DO have symptoms and are covid positive , it could still show as negative and you would go about your life with the mistaken idea that you don’t have covid.

If I were you I’d probably do a PCR test, just to put my mind at rest, but I have “pure O” OCD so become immensely caught up in catastrophic thought spirals about this kind of thing.

* The point of testing isn't necessarily about whether you feel fine or not though, it's about not spreading your infection to others.*

I admit. At this point, if I had the sniffles like this, I’m not risking a test telling me it’s negative and then messing up the lovely plans i have next weekend (paddle boarding, bike ride and then picnic). Nope. No way. They’ve been looking forward to it too much.

But why would it wreck your plans for next weekend if you test today. Your results will be back way before then. Or are you saying you would carry in with your plans even if you knew you had COVID?

@MurdockTheMouse

A cough doesn’t necessarily warrant a PCR. The guidance states clearly it’s a new continuous cough. If it was me I’d probably test but once you do you’re legally required to isolate until the results come back.

You know that's to distinguish from a cough someone does ONCE to clear their throat right?

Continuous means repeated over a period of time, which you can pretty much take for granted whenever someone says "they have a cough".

OP, hope you're ok. Results are coming back much quicker now - many within 12-24 hours. Last week it was reported that runny noses, sore throats and headache are coming up more often as symptoms of the Delta variant.

We’ve all done PCR tests with those symptoms. There’s the capacity in the testing system, they’re surge testing, numbers are going up so it’s sensible to get a PCR if there’s any doubt.