After 10 days isolation, how infectious is a person? should we be careful

[Liz1tummypain]

Son ( 23) has a positive lateral flow test, waiting on result of pcr but seems certain as feeling cold-y, achey etc. Symptoms started Tuesday so 10 days takes us to Christmas Eve. If we pick him up Christmas Eve is it safe for granny and uncle to be here on Christmas day?

He won't know unless he tests. My brother was still positive 12 days after first displaying symptoms and had to miss a family funeral.

@Namechangenumber23 but you can test positive even when you’re no longer infectious. It’s why they say you cannot do a lateral flow test for 90 days after testing positive for Covid because of the high rate of false positives.

@ Namechangenumber23 - you mean your brother kept taking lfts after 10 days? How did he check please?

After completing your 10 days you would be expected to go back to work with vulnerable people. He might continue to be lft positive beyond that and could be pcr positive for up to 90 days. If you had to be negative to leave isolation then that would be the advice but it's not. Let Granny and uncle make their own decisions but he should be fine to come as long as he no longer has a temperature.

After 10 days you may still have some leftover symptoms (like a bit of a cough) but you should no longer be contagious. You're not supposed to test for 90 days because traces of virus can stay in your system making the tests unreliable.

The point of the 10 days is that people shouldn't be infectious by the end of it unless they're still having fever - residual cough, tiredness etc can be expected, but I gather high temperature might indicate remaining infectious, so as long as that's gone you're OK.

You’re close to zero transmissibility by day 8. Day 9 and ten are, in the vast majority, zero

So long as he doesn't have a fever or runny nose then should be OK! A cough is fine.

Thanks for all your answers folk! Think I get it now. Merci :)