What sort of cough warrants a test

[worriedatthemoment]

Ds has a sore throat and croaky voice yesterday so not a covid symptom for a test
He did do a lvt one today and yesterday and both negative.
Today has developed a little cough as he needs to clear his throat so he chooses to cough to clear as opposed to spontanious as such and feels a little chesty and has sniffly nose now.
Is this kind of cough you would consider for a pcr test ?
I can get test the pm for all of us local if needed but not sure this warrants the criteria?

Any.

Is he coughing several times an hour?
Would you describe him as having a cough?

A new continuous one.

So my cough woke up Sunday morning and coughed. Then by lunchtime coughed about 10 more times so we got him a test.

I coughed as I ate my breakfast this morning and don’t coughs again so haven’t!

Dh had what I'd call 'a little cough' - he was positive.

Any cough. Just get a test.

Indeed, ‘a bit of a cough’ needs a test.

Hard to say he is coughing every now and again to clear his throat as feels a little phlegmy he says , throat is very croaky and feels a little worse than yesterday.
Insticts say prob a cold but then we have to go to work and seeing vulnerable friend so in this climate it doesn't seem right to just assume.
He isn't coughing all the time but has coughed more than 3 times already this morning.

Definitely needs a test and all of you isolating if he's coughed more than 3 times in 24 hours. Any type of cough counts. Hope it's negative.

I would probably err on the side of caution but to me it sounds like a cough caused by a cold. My cough was pathetic. I coughed a couple of times on two occasions within 30 minutes. But it was unusual for me to cough (strange as that sounds) so I had a test (it was positive) but I felt rough too.

Thanks yes all at home today anyway and have booked us in for test pm, local site seemed to have a lot available so it won't hurt to test and shouldn't stop anyone else getting one

Sounds exactly like my daughters Covid symptoms when they first started. Glad you have booked a test.

That’s how my cough has been, needing to cough to clear the mucus. I’m positive - tested negative on LFT’s for 3 days first before faint positive. Now confirmed by PCR. Definitely get tested

I hardly coughed at all. Definitely not a continuous cough

I had a bit of a cold. Then DH woke up with a temperature so did a lateral flow..
Turned out we were both positive.

@EveryFlightBeginsWithAFall

I hardly coughed at all. Definitely not a continuous cough

Continuous means more than just a crumb in your throat. It’s really badly described. It doesn’t mean constant.

“ coughing a lot for more than an hour, or 3 or more coughing episodes in 24 hours ”

www.nhs.uk/conditions/coronavirus-covid-19/symptoms/main-symptoms/

The rule I’ve went with is if I’m asking myself if I need a test, get one

By Manchester City Council

In our house where 11 people got covid no one had a cough until 4/5 days after symptoms showed. Some never had a cough at all. (DH, eldest DD, and I had very mild and mainly gastric symptoms due to being vaccinated)

We have all gone and got tested as dh and i are double jabbed so who knows if we could have with no symptoms , and could select 3 others in household as well as one with symptoms so thought might as well all be tested.

Could call on getting tested, mine started with a hoarse voice and just occasionally having to clear my throat… you just can’t tell.

We were all negative