Covid Test for guests?

[SturminsterNewton]

I have a couple of guests for the weekend at the end of September. They are staying with other people before they reach me and also have a wider social/family life than I. I live alone and WFH, so have been quite sheltered since Covid.

AIBU to ask them to do a test before they set off to me, or is that just being over-anxious (and rather inhospitable)?

I would ditch you as a friend

@clarkkentsglasses

I would ditch you as a friend

Lovely.

I'd happily do it and have done so before seeing family, friends, going to a wedding etc. I've also asked family to do one before staying with me. My DD is a nurse working with Covid patients and always has one or a PCR before staying because my Dad is CEV. It's really not an issue. I wouldn't let people stay who were not vaccinated or unhappy to consider others regarding covid.

Everyone at my office does them twice weekly. We still get plenty of Covid outbreaks. Plenty of anecdotes about people having negative LFTs throughout their Covid infection.

I’d take one if it made you feel better, but I don’t think it would do anything to protect you.

@Stuffin i have to test twice weekly for work , not nhs , not that anyone checks
When i meet my friend who is undergoing chemotherapy I always do a lvt and so do kids and dh
Yes i know there not fully accurate but better than nothing at all and its a just incase it picks up a positive , then we have done all we can
She is on life long treatment so can't wait for treatment to be over and does know there is still a risk its just one measure we do to help minimise it , even if only a little bit

sounds a bit OTT - would it give you a degree of assurance if you knew they'd been vacinated?

@MyAnacondaMight

Everyone at my office does them twice weekly. We still get plenty of Covid outbreaks. Plenty of anecdotes about people having negative LFTs throughout their Covid infection.

I’d take one if it made you feel better, but I don’t think it would do anything to protect you.

Why do people always say this? All the research shows they are 95-99% accurate at detecting positive infections. So the anecdotal 'evidence' that is so popular on MN doesn't stack up.

www.gavi.org/vaccineswork/how-likely-positive-lateral-flow-test-covid-19-be-wrong

I agree with what someone unthread said
Fir how long do you expect this?
It’s not going away
Have you ever added anyone to test fir flu/norovirus/ multiple other respiratory viruses? Even during winter 2017/18?
The tests are not free - they are costing the country millions and millions

If you’re this anxious I don’t think you’re ready for guests. I mean, so they test before, turn up at your house then aren’t allowed out fir the duration? What if they test the morning they are due- it’s negative but then they stop off for petrol/supermarket/etc on the way and could pick it up there…,

Personally I think its polite to test before visiting.

My DD is a keyworker and tests before coming to stay.
I tested before giving my DC and pals a lift to a holiday , they all did the same

Maybe its more normal in Scotland to do a lateral flow.

@Aprilx
You do realise that the government/ NHS recommends everyone does a LFT twice a week?

Regular testing is about reducing transmission in the community, in order to help protect public health.

Your comment regarding ‘tax payers paying for someone to do a test to visit a friend’ is (and to quote your words) ‘pretty dumb’.

Whilst we are still in the middle of a public Heath outbreak, it’s sensible to do regular testing.

The tax payer isn’t paying for someone to do a test ‘to visit a friend’. The tax payer is paying for everyone to do regular testing to try and reduce transmission of a major disease that has caused a worldwide pandemic! The cost of a LFT is far cheaper than the cost of someone to stay in hospital ….

Of course a time will come when the world has reached an amount of heard immunity and it can be treated like flu.

Have you ever added anyone to test fir flu/norovirus/ multiple other respiratory viruses? Even during winter 2017/18?

Are there readily available, self-administered tests for those?

@Clymene your link actually says this: Because of this relatively low sensitivity, a negative test result cannot guarantee that you aren’t infected – false negatives are reasonably common
While if it says you are positive you almost certainly are, if it says you are negative you could very well be positive. They aren’t worth doing in my view, and anyone doing them every time they meet anyone…I just don’t get it. And I’ve been very covid aware and pro-lockdown.