To think I DON'T need to self isolate yet?

[barnabypop]

So I went to a birthday party in a friends garden last night. One of my friends had said she hadn't been feeling well all week, tight chest, headache etc but she'd taken several lateral flow tests so thought she was fine. Well this morning she has had a positive lateral flow test and is awaiting results of PCP test.

I had given her a hug and then touched her phone as she was showing me pictures on it and was sitting next to her most of the night. However, I read on government website that even if you have been in contact with someone with Covid you don't have to isolate until track and trace get in touch.

So am I right in saying I am free to go about as normal until I am contacted by track and trace? Will I even have to isolate if we were outside?

@ChequerBoard

"When you test positive you are asked for anyone you have been in close contact with. It doesn’t matter if it’s a private house, work place, pub or wherever."

Newsflash - people don't have total recall. What if they forget to name you as a contact or give your contact details incorrectly, or refuse to engage with the T&T service as we know many, many people are doing.

Not being called by T&T does not negate your obligation to isolate when you know you have been in contact with a positive case. If people can't use basic common sense we will never be out of this cycle of lockdowns!

Newsflash. I’d remember some I had not only hugged but texted to say I had it.

I would isolate if I were you.

If her PCR is positive then she will either complete the T&T form online or over the phone with them, and hopefully will name you as a contact (assuming she has your name and some contact details like a mobile number or email address). T&T will then contact you to ask you to isolate. Or course, that process takes time, so although technically you could be out and about until they contact you, given that you have been told by your friend already about the very very likely positive result, morally the right thing to do is to isolate from now.

@Mrsjayy

Well track and trace isnt for private garden parties is it ? Take a test and.wait the results why wouldn't you ?

Of course it is!

My colleague tested positive and all close contacts in work isolated prior to being contacted by Track and Trace. This was in March and I'm still waiting to be contacted...
So I wouldn't bank on them calling you

YABU, you need to self-isolate.

Your friend is also BU. She shouldn’t have come to the party if she had symptoms. And a lateral flow test doesn’t give her a free pass - she should have taken a PCR test as soon as she had symptoms as a LF tests are only meant for use for a symptomatic screening (and they’re pretty useless at that anyway).

Technically you don't have to until the test result. However, obviously the sensible thing is to do so, if at all possible - which i understand you are. Re. employer - surely the result will be back by Monday? We have had soooo many PCR tests in my family and they have always taken far less than 24 hours. I do understand that it might be different in different areas or we may just be lucky. Or perhaps you work weekends!

Let me tell you a little story.

On 13th December a lady who I will refer to as X was exposed to COVID. She decided not to isolate as she was asymptomatic and didnt see an issue. She attended a work event (it was essential and permitted) where she ignored the rules. She took her mask off and didnt distance.

The following day X become symptomatic and tested positive. A few days later 2 other people who were there that day subsequently tested positive. One of those people was a lovely young lad who lived at home with his elder grandmother. She is now dead. She died of COVID. By the way I was there that day. I never did get a call from Track and Trace; X decided not to tell them everywhere she had been. Fortunately I found out quickly and used COMMON SENSE.

I dont give a shit with the Gov website says. Common sense tells you youve been exposed to a potentially fatal condition - probably not for you but there are people for whom getting COVID can be a death sentence.

Stay at home. Do a full 10 days. Dont try and find ways round it. Dont decide on day 7 you feel fine so youll be OK going out.

Youve made yourself look very selfish here. Stay at home and do the decent thing.

PS The advice on the government website assumes people with symptoms request a PCR test ASAP, not take several LF tests until they become positive. Only asymptomatic people are meant to be taking LF tests for screening and there’s a chance the results are not accurate, so that’s why the advice is only self isolate if the asymptomatic person then tests positive with PCR testing.

Get pcr tested. It's not difficult, say you have a cough.

And you're asking because?

I think you already know the right thing to do... it sounds as if you just don't want to.

The OP is isolating, but her employer is requesting proof for why she is isolating

@iminthegarden

Get pcr tested. It's not difficult, say you have a cough.

It’s probably a bit too early for her to test positive on PCR if she caught it from her friend so I wouldn’t rely on this as evidence she hasn’t contracted it.

LF tests are only meant for use for a symptomatic screening (and they’re pretty useless at that anyway).

Except they’re not useless, they are just another tool that allows us to pick up more community cases, usually asymptomatic ones, to try to stop the spread. False negatives are uncommon, false positives are more common which is why you are asked to follow a positive LFT result with a PCR test.

They aren’t perfect but they are far from useless.

Unless GOV/NHS updates the top symptoms of covid to most recent ones, fever/headache/runny nose/sore throat, Uk is totally doomed.

This is really interesting. I wonder if they’ll ever have stats on the number of isolating contact that have tested positive. Longer term there has to be an alternative to whole classes self isolating over and over again…hopefully the science/safety stacks up

@Yellow85

This is really interesting. I wonder if they’ll ever have stats on the number of isolating contact that have tested positive. Longer term there has to be an alternative to whole classes self isolating over and over again…hopefully the science/safety stacks up

Don’t know why this didn’t quote but was in relation to the trial of daily lateral flows for isolating people.

"False negatives are uncommon, false positives are more common"

I thought it was other way round.

I would stick to the letter of the law or guidance, whatever that might be at the moment. If you are meant to be doing something else, then the guidance would have said so.

It's your interpretation of "need" that wound people up, OP.

"Need" or else govt will punish me

is different from

"need" because I might be an unacceptable risk to others.

Incubation period is usually > 2 days so actually there is a case for saying OP would be reasonable to get a big load of shopping in.

I hope covid gets treated soon like we used to treat flu.

@MintyMabel

LF tests are only meant for use for a symptomatic screening (and they’re pretty useless at that anyway).

Except they’re not useless, they are just another tool that allows us to pick up more community cases, usually asymptomatic ones, to try to stop the spread. False negatives are uncommon, false positives are more common which is why you are asked to follow a positive LFT result with a PCR test.

They aren’t perfect but they are far from useless.

It's the other way round - there are a lot of false negatives and fewer false positives.

[quote barnabypop]@EastWestWhosBest my employer is looking for proof from track and trace though, that is where the difficulty lies. [/quote]
Now this is an issue.

I’ve had a student ring me before asking if she can come into face to face teaching even though she’d been in close contact with a colleague 2 days before who then tested positive. I said no, they’d worked together in the same room for a shift. But the supermarket she works for had told the positive one that to tell test and trace that nobody had been within 2 m of anyone. So nobody got contacted and told to isolate. Student says they were often within 2m of each other. Tesco told my student to keep coming to work. I told my student not to. She certainly didn’t come to campus but I imagine probably went to work.

It's TEST and trace. Isn't TRACK and trace a service offered by the post office??

LFT are only 60% accurate... they are a general provention and tracking tool NOT a diagnositic test for symptomatic people.

If she had symptoms she should have had PCR test... and yes you need to isolate instead of being as selfish as she was - there are still vunerable people who cant be vaccinated.

@MintyMabel

LF tests are only meant for use for a symptomatic screening (and they’re pretty useless at that anyway).

Except they’re not useless, they are just another tool that allows us to pick up more community cases, usually asymptomatic ones, to try to stop the spread. False negatives are uncommon, false positives are more common which is why you are asked to follow a positive LFT result with a PCR test.

They aren’t perfect but they are far from useless.

You have a 40% chance of a false negative, hardly a small/uncommon amount.

Legally you don't need to.

Morally/ethically - you should.