Cold or Covid? How can you tell?

[CuckooCuckooClock]

Or are you supposed to isolate and get a test with every cold this year?
I know I’ll probably be told I’m being thick but I really don’t know what we’re supposed to do.
The app says get a test and isolate for a cough, a temp, or loss of smell and taste.
Well to me two of those are standard cold symptoms and I get plenty of colds every winter that give my a cough and I lose my sense of smell. I don’t get a temp but my small children usually do.
I’ve been sneezing All week and have woken up this morning with a runny nose, sore throat and the usual accompanying cough and loss of smell. Do I need to isolate my whole family and get a test?

I suppose advice varies everywhere but a friend I saw yesterday currently has a cold and a cough and her GP advised that unless it's a continuous cough (ie every few minutes all day, keeping you up all night kind of cough) then she doesn't need a test.

She's keeping a daily eye on her temperature & other symptoms anyway just to be on the safe side.

Covid doesn't have blocked or runny nose.

No, you don't need to test.

Covid doesn't have blocked or runny nose

It bloody can do. My son has just tested positive aged 20 and hes got a blocked nose, runny nose when it unblocks and blocks again. Hes also got sickness and diarrhoea with his symptoms as well

He also doesn't have a cough

Yes that’s what I mean - we haven’t been told by the Covid app that a runny nose ruled out Covid , just that it’s a rare symptom. The WHO disagrees. But we’re going to need to isolate and test at least once per month at this rate (ds has a cough at the beginning of sept so we isolated and got a test then. It was negative but an absolute nightmare getting the test and isolating with the kids whilst trying to work. Again. I can’t take this!

I don’t want to be mean and tell you you’re being thick....but the rules are quite clear that if you have those symptoms yes you need to test and self isolate. Yes it may well be a cold but many people have tested positive with runny nose aka cold symptoms too. You can’t know without a test.

Also bear in mind it’s now against the law not to self isolate when you clearly need to so you would be breaking the law

It is shit though and I don’t know how we’re all going to keep this going through winter

If we have to isolate I will have to teach for 5 hours every day whilst looking after my 2 primary aged dc. This is going to finish us all off. I just can’t

No you have a cold and not covid, you don't need to isolate.

I have had a cold, that has since developed with a cough. I have a headache, sore throat and feel like it is like any other cough.

My cough is not constant, but I am coughing a very dry cough intermittently through the day. I don't feel like I am on deaths door, or have covid but I have been told to book a test. I have now done so via home testing. I am not going out, and I am staying in all weekend until I get the result.

You need to book a test, self isolate until you have the result. A drive in test centre might be quicker.

It is a complete pain, I agree, but better to be safe than sorry.

I guess my only option is to be signed off with stress then. Has anyone else done this?

yellow how on earth can you say to someone over the internet that they have a cold and not covid? I mean how the hell would you ever know that. Very dangerous advice if you ask me.

If you have a cough, a temp or loss of taste and smell you need to get a test. It is very very simple advice.
It is not for any of us to decide whether it is a simple common cold or not, because we have no way of knowing, coronavirus is from the same family as the common cold- and the risk of making others seriously ill, or even dying is too high to just write it off.

Well I followed the rules and isolated and got my son tested the other day when he was coughing even though I was almost certain it was his usual cold (and as it happened it was)
However school are unimpressed with all the current absences and have sent round a letter from the public health bod at the council who says you only need to isolate and test if the cough is continuous AND “different to their usual cough” . If I’d been told this earlier I wouldn’t have had my son tested. I’d probably have still kept him off for a couple of days though as he was coughing a lot which doesn’t seem fair on the rest of the class or the teacher.

Why can't you just get a test and stay at home for a few days op? Why would you need to be signed off with stress?

@PontiacBandit that photo you shared from the CDC says you can have covid 19 and a runny nose. Runny nose with covid is more likely in children than adults.

I’m afraid the rules are very clear.
Isolate and test if you have a temp (37.8c or higher) OR a new continuous cough OR a loss of taste or smell.

No you have a cold and not covid, you don't need to isolate

What a ridiculous thing to say! Are you an absolute expert?

Again my ds has just tested positive with cold symptoms including runny and blocked nose. No cough just a slight temp

It's that kind of attitude that is helping to spread the virus

@YellowBeryl1

No you have a cold and not covid, you don't need to isolate.

@YellowBeryl1 wow what superpowers, considering even medication professionals wouldn’t be able to tell that as cold symptoms can be present with Covid.....

Medical!

I will have to teach from home if I’m isolating and I have 2 small children who will be isolating with me. How can I look after them and teach lessons at the same tome? That’s why I’ll need to be signed off with stress.

The virus kills people, the very worst thing you can do now is be complacent. A few days off and a simple test is a much safer route to take. According to the flow chart you should be getting a test as you have a lost of taste and a cough.

I really can not afford to take time out at the moment either, but it is unlikely to happen 'often' and this year we have to be extra careful.

I’ve booked a test and will isolate. I’m a responsible person and want to do the right thing but it feels impossible

I think the reason you need to test with any cough- even if you also have the sneezing and runny nose- is because you could have a cold AND covid. Without testing there's no way of knowing if your cough is due to covid, due to a cold, or even something else.

I think what is confusing everybody is the definition of continuous cough. On the NHS website it says:

a new, continuous cough – this means coughing a lot for more than an hour, or 3 or more coughing episodes in 24 hours (if you usually have a cough, it may be worse than usual)

Yet already on this thread we have a GP and a local public health official saying something different. It's no wonder people are unclear.

I don’t have loss of taste, just smell.
I can’t take time off this. I have to work from home teaching for 5 hours every day. That’s the impossible part