To go to University when we have Covid in the house?

[CovidsInDaHouse]

I have just started University as a (very) mature student.

DS had also just started University and is living at home.

After his induction day at the beginning of last week, he came down with flu like symptoms. He came back positive for Covid last weekend.

He has only had one jab as he kept putting off the 2nd one .

Over the weekend I felt a bit run down and on Monday morning I noticed I couldn’t taste my coffee so arranged a PCR and it came back negative. I was bunged up but taste came back after a few days. I am double jabbed.

Then DD (double jabbed) felt unwell, loss of taste as well, so did a test on Thursday and it came back positive on Friday!

Guidance now is not to isolate if someone in your household is positive and you’re double jabbed.

Should I go into University tomorrow? I’ve only attended the first day so far, missed last week. It’s a small class of 10 in a small room, most of the other students are teens and could be unjabbed so worried I might pass it on if I’ve picked it up during the week although I feel fine now,

WWYD?

I think there are quite a few people around wondering why they got negatives when they have exactly the same symptoms of someone with Covid living with them.

I decided to isolate anyway as I do not trust Boris to decide we are not contagious because we are double vaccinated and second, because I thought my negative test may have been due to testing too early or too late as I didn’t have symptoms yet when both DS and I were tested AND I tested again 7 days after I developed them.

This was with PCR tests, if I had symptoms, a confirmed case at home and a negative lateral flow test I would just ignore the test altogether and isolate straight away.

Guidance says you can.
I really wouldn't though.

I think if you've lost sense of taste that's very Covid specific, you need to do another PCR and not go in

Don’t go in! You live with multiple cases and have had symptoms, it’s possible your test was inaccurate.

The government guidelines are solely to reduce disruption to business and education, not because it’s actually safe.

OP, use your common sense, i am sure there are many people who are already walking about whilst having family members who are covid positive, they are called keyworkers. If everybody who had a household member who tested positive stayed at home there'll be much more than just a petrol shortage. Unless your Uni has a policy to the contrary I would go because you already have a negative pcr test. If you are not going to trust the pcr test result then there is no point in taking one. Or as mnet usually loves to point out you have potentially denied someone else more deserving from taking a test

use your common sense

Unfortunately that was one of the first victims when this all started!
Rip common sense. You are missed

This is how I caught Covid which then spread to my household before we found out. Someone from a Covid positive household who tested negative herself on her day 2 test, met me for coffee, without telling me her household was positive and giving me the option to cancel. On her day 8 test, he was positive, though still without anything more than a headache. I had a PCR test the day she told me (four days since contact) which was negative but the day 8 test came back positive! One of my children was also positive the following day, having caught it from me, and my other child also tested positive on his day 8 test. We then had to wait another ten days praying that my husband would keep testing negative. He’s self employed and was about to start a job which, if he’d had to cancel would have cost us thousands, as it was time limited and he’d have been replaced. My youngest missed his first few days at secondary while he was isolating and my eldest his first days of sixth form.

People are not considering the knock on effect at all of mixing when they have positive cases in the household. We didn’t even go out AFTER my 10 days isolation until my second child had completed there isolation, just in case we were still able to carry the virus out with us. Fortunately we were able to do this, I’m aware that many don’t have the choice, but I believe in that saying that I heard going around last year - just because we can, doesn’t mean we should…

Please don’t. University lecturer. Let the course organiser know, I’m sure there will be contingency plans for people who are isolating. It looks like your PCR was a false negative. How often have you lost your sense of taste before? Ever? It’s such a specific symptom, stop grasping at straws.