Has anyone else never taken a Covid test?

[Comvit]

I've never taken a Covid test. There are quite a few people around me - friends and family - who've also never taken one, or have taken one at a particular time for holidays and whatnot.

So I didn't think it was that unusual to have never taken a test. But a friend I met up with today was absolutely beside herself with shock that I've never tested.

Has anyone else never tested? Is it really that unusual to have never taken a Covid test?

I’m very surprised that you never had a test, I can understand this about PCR but LFT???
I did tests before dental appointments, cosmetic procedures , haircuts, a big party, visits to theaters and indoor meet ups with friends. I don’t have relatives in UK that’s why they’re not on the list. We had a couple of home visits for DD and did LFT before them as well.
I did tests for a mixture of reasons: at some point cases were high, at some point vaccination rates were still low, but the main reason was that I didn’t want to put people in a difficult position. Some people didn’t want to get CV for health reasons, some didn’t want their travel and other plans to be affected, I always thought that it’s a basic courtesy especially when tests were free, just minor inconvenience.
Tbh this info tells me that you are not very thoughtful person and don’t care about other people. I wonder if your friend came to the same conclusion as well. It would be different for a person who’s shielding but the person who was out and about…

I hadn't till a few weeks ago, when DS got ill with something that didn't seem quite like a cold. Ordered tests and he was pos. Next day, we all were. Obviously we stayed in.

Hadn't felt the need till then. I work from home full time, don't really go out except to the shops or for walks. No interest in events or travelling abroad. I don't visit anyone vulnerable.

I've also done hundreds of LFTs.
It's now finally starting to spread around my workplace and I was amazed that I had to talk three of my colleagues through how to test because they had never done one before. Ever.

And I mean properly talk them through it. Set the kit up, "right that goes up your nose, good, now put the swab in there, 5 drops on that circle bit there...."

It felt so bizarre when I've been testing twice weekly for them

I have done loads as I have primary age kids so the guidance was adults to test twice weekly. I have vulnerable parents too so would test before we went there before everyone was vaccinated or if going to big events. I have done pcrs too when I have had symptoms or to travel. Never had covid.

I am sure there were plenty of people not following the guidance in school but I don't really mind the tests and it matters to me that I don't spread it to vulnerable people.

Like others said though, I can WFH or take sick pay so the consequences of me having a no/ light symptom case are different.

I don't work as I'm a sahm, so nope. Well I did one when my other half bought a cold home from work.
I mean to be fair, I usually couldn't even order any for him online so didn't wanna waste them 🙈

Thanks for all your replies.

I don't have school age children. I don't/didn't visit or see any vulnerable people.

If you were visiting any people, not just vulnerable, the socially responsible thing to do was to test so if you had the virus it would break chains of transmission.

Who and where are all these people who have never tested? (If you are still shielding on your tod fair enough). Have the non-testers never been out to a shop, been on a bus, worked, or met any friends or relations? There was a massive PR campaign, you would have to be a hermit to not notice the TV/radio/online/bus shelter advice to test regulary to protect everyone from asymptomatic transmission.

I have tested daily for work and before I meet people for a coffee, without testing my DH would have merrily spread Covid around in January rather than isolating sensibly. Still testing and getting kits from work (Scotland).

I would think they were a bit of an arse tbh. Couldn't give a shit about anyone but themselves. But I wouldn't dwell on it after that. There are always going to be people who are a bit selfish.

Just because it told you to test doesn’t mean you had to 🙄

You see vulnerable people everywhere, and even more family of vulnerable people. How can you possibly have thought it was ok because you personally don’t have children and or vulnerable family😱

Perhaps some people didn't test because the LFTs were so inaccurate that they felt it better to just assume they might have it and continue to socially distance and wear masks when in shops etc. Unless you're taking a test right before entering a vulnerable person's home, testing twice a week is a bit of a pointless lottery as you never know when you might have it or if a test was accurate. This is why people, sensibly, tried to test before meeting family for Christmas dinner - in a small enclosed space - but weren't testing just to go to the shops - with better ventilation and space to socially distance. Why else do people think there was a shortage of tests in December?

There are 68 million people living in this country, surely no one actually thought it possible to contain Covid by having every single person testing twice a week for ever more? Improving ventilation on the other hand can provide a permanent measure to help protect people. Air filtration and better ventilation in schools and hospitals in particular is a simple longterm measure that could have been invested in instead of the money spent on free LFTs for a random selection of people for a very limited amount time. Other countries, like Germany, focused more on these sensible permanent measures while we handed out free LFTs for a bit before declaring Covid over. Vulnerable people are being hugely let down by this short-term approach. Attacking people who didn't do random LFTs is unfair as it was never possible for everyone to do so. It was a policy to make people feel something was being done (and to make the sellers money) but it was never an effective long term solution. Now we have no measures at all but vulnerable people are still vulnerable. This, like everything else, is not the responsibility of individual mumsnet users who may or may not have tested over the last two years, but the government, whose job it is to formulate effective policies and implement them. Not something that is likely to happen any time soon with this particular lot, unfortunately.

I've never taken one.
No one in my immediate family have had Covid.

I don't remember being "told" to test. I remember being "asked" to test.

Too many people got stuck in the mindless "no one tells me what to do mode" they lost their social conscience.

My dd 15 has never taken one nor has my husband.

Me and Ds 5 have taken loads of lfts to be able to attend face to face appointments.
I've had 4 PCR tests and Ds has had 3 when we had a cough and tested positive on the lfts. The pcrs was negative.

Sorry that you had it badly. Virtually everyone I know has tested constantly , including me, and most people in my line of work have had covid at least once. I have had it twice. Testing made no difference. It is a very contagious illness.

Testing makes a difference for me simply as it means I know sooner, and can access antiviral medication within the required time limits. It has to be taken fairly soon and before the virus takes hold too much.