When to get a test for Covid 19
Rainhill’s guidance on ‘when to get a Covid 19 Test’. We outline the most common and less associated symptoms and advise on the best course of action for a parent to take when facing a potential infection within your family.
The common symptoms of COVID are:
- a high temperature – this means you feel hot to touch on your chest or back (you do not need to measure your temperature)
- 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)
- a loss or change to your sense of smell or taste – this means you've noticed you cannot smell or taste anything, or things smell or taste different to normal
Most people with coronavirus have at least 1 of these symptoms.
Other, less common, symptoms include:
- aches and pains.
- sore throat.
- diarrhoea.
- conjunctivitis.
- headache.
- loss of taste or smell.
- a rash on skin, or discolouration of fingers or toe
Further information can be found on gov.uk, the NHS website or World Health Organisation https://www.who.int/health-topics/coronavirus#tab=tab_3
If your child has any of the above symptoms then please access a COVID test as soon as possible and do NOT allow them to come into school until a negative result has been received.
For those who live in a ‘mass testing’ area, results of tests can be as swift as 20 minutes and for those in all other areas the turnaround time for results is, on average, 24 hours.
If your child receives a negative result - they may come into school as normal as they likely only have a cold and this shouldn’t stop them coming in.
If your child receives a positive result – they should self-isolate as per the guidance in this newsletter