Has your first year uni DD/DS come home ill/ exhausted?

[Jng1]

I know DS has had various coughs and colds in his first term, as would be expected after mixing with so many new people after about 18 months mostly spent at home.
However he has now been back a week and he still seems really under the weather - cold symptoms/ blocked nose/ coughing/ tired.
He's been testing on LFTs and they've all been negative, but hasn't had a PCR test (supply problems around here and also he kept saying he doesn't have 'new symptoms' he's been feeling like this for weeks).
He had covid back in August too (although obviously it's a new variant now).

Not quite sure whether to just assume it's on-going 'fresher's flu' or something else, and whether we should be worrying more?
WWYD?

• PCR for covid check (DH thinks it's too late for this now)
• try to get checked out to rule out bronchitis/ infection/ pneumonia etc? (No idea how to do this as his GP is now in his uni town)
• Perhaps long covid?
• Watch & wait and hope a few weeks of rest and home cooking etc will help!?

My DD seemed to be ill all the time she was at uni and is now well over it.

I think they were all a little paranoid and Covid testing all the time but luckily she didn't catch it again. I was a bit concerned as it had been over a year since she had it the first time and within 2 weeks of starting uni one of the girls in her house got it.

If I were you i'd probably keep getting your DS to do lateral flow tests and see how it goes. Rest and home cooking will probably do him the world of good. I hope he's feeling better soon.

I assume you'd be able to get a walk in GP appointment locally if you felt he needed it. 111 would be able to arrange that.

Our eldest is home - and is self isolating with Covid. She had the "freshers flu" that went round at the beginning of term and said that was worse than the mild symptoms she has of covid now.

This cohort have had a busy term and are very likely actually exhausted! I remember when I was a student being the same - I developed alopecia and lost a patch of hair.

Let him sleep - feed him up and then hopefully they get to go back and start term 2 on time!

I was very much of the 'rest, sleep, eat, stay home, reduce the alcohol' point of view, but impatient DH was very much "he needs to see a doctor." I just said "good luck with arranging that" and left them to it.

Anyway, 24 hours later, after much huffing and puffing from DH about how inaccessible healthcare services are at the moment (where has he BEEN for the last 18 months?!) DS finally had a telephone call with a GP who told him - yes, you've guessed it - to rest, sleep, eat, stay home, reduce the alcohol.

However he's also been advised to get a PCR test anyway and there's none of those available within a 20 mile radius (also as I advised previously!) so they've gone off for that this afternoon!