Cough, 5 negative LFT tests, no seasonal immunity?

[Onedaylikethis21]

DS14 has a cough & we have done 5 lateral flows every day this week -all negative - it started with a sore throat. We have ordered a PCR and kept him home from school.

He has asthma & it does tend to get worse this time of year and I am wondering if, after all the lockdowns, we all need to build our immunity again to colds and coughs again?

Aibu? I am super anxious but SURELY 5 negative flows over 5 days are fairly accurate?

Why haven't you got a pcr result when you should have done the PCR day one of the cough. FFS why do people not understand that lateral flows are for asymptomatic people.

Has he been in school all week and you only kept him off today on the day you ordered the PCR test ?

LFT's aren't accurate if you have symptoms. You should have done a PCR on the first day he displayed symptoms of COVID to rule it out.

He hasn’t had a cough for 5 days - that started today hence ordering a PCR - we have been testing regularly for school & then he had a bit of a sore throat 2 days ago but that’s not a covid symptom

What I mean is- he has been asymptomatic all week until today bar a sore throat. Cough started this morning

There are still other viruses doing the rounds.

@pianolessons1 I do understand that FFS 🙄 Hes only had symptoms today but what I am asking is surely if he was positive, it would have already showed up

That said, DD's LFTs were negative and then she had a positive PCR. No symptoms until 48 hours after that.

Why were You testing every day this week if he was asymptomatic?
He must have had some symptoms to make you think “ oh I better LFT”.
I would have just driven him for a PCR at first symptom then he could have had results back by now instead of farting around all week with LFT, plus sounds like you have had him in school all week

The symptoms for Delta are totally different btw.

Just for the fun of it (🙄) she took LFTs a few times after the positive PCR and they were all positive too. Even when she had symptoms.

Lateral flow tests are about 50% accurate or 1 in 2.
Assuming the lateral flow tests done are all independent then doing 5 lateral flow tests, then the chance of them all being a false negative is 1 in 32.
So if 32 people with covid all did 5 lateral flow tests, one person would get 5 false negatives.

BUT: If you have got one false negative, then I suspect you're more likely to get another false negative.
If you've got a faulty batch of tests, or not doing the tests quite right, or the viral load isn't enough to be positive, then having got one false negative then it would be a higher likelihood of getting another false negative.
So it would be less than 1 in 32.

So as he's got symptoms, I suggest you go for a PCR.

[quote Onedaylikethis21]@pianolessons1 I do understand that FFS 🙄 Hes only had symptoms today but what I am asking is surely if he was positive, it would have already showed up[/quote]
Not necessarily, no.

LFT's are notoriously unreliable.

@RubyJam because there is loads of it as his school and he has fairly full on asthma managed by heavy duty steroids so we test him very regularly- he had a sore throat too on weds. But as a sore throat isn’t a clsssic covid symptom, we weren’t sure and had no reason to keep him out of school etc esp with negative LFTs

@icedcoffees but LFTs are what the school is asking us to do. He had no symptoms and negative tests so I am not going to be constantly doing PCRs

@MargaretThursday as I said, I have ordered a PCR for him today 🤷🏻‍♀️

He hasn’t had covid symptoms until today so I am doing what the school asks us to do.

My question is that if he’s had 5 neg over 5 days then I am hoping it’s not covid

In my opinion it is unlikely covid due to the number of negative ltf's but it is not impossible as PCR is more reliable.

You seem to understand this so not sure what the point is?

@Sally872 am just anxious as he’s got underlying health conditions and hasn’t had the vax yet

Ah sorry cross post. Yes i agree likely connected to sore throat rather than covid so try not to worry hopefully pcr confirms that soon. Very important to check though.

[quote Onedaylikethis21]@icedcoffees but LFTs are what the school is asking us to do. He had no symptoms and negative tests so I am not going to be constantly doing PCRs[/quote]
I understand that, and you shouldn't be doing a PCR unless he has symptoms anyway.

But my point is, the fact that he's had loads of negative LFT's doesn't mean he won't test positive on a PCR.

We have all had a bad cold with cough in our house. 6 PCRs for household at various points in Sept and all negative. Definitely a good chance it is something else. Good luck.

[quote Onedaylikethis21]@pianolessons1 I do understand that FFS 🙄 Hes only had symptoms today but what I am asking is surely if he was positive, it would have already showed up[/quote]
Sorry I misunderstood. Lateral flows are not very sensitive....

Lateral flows are pants. I know several people who were negative 5+ times and pcr was positive.

We have just exactly the same situation. DS 17 had negative lateral flows but developed an awful cough following a sore throat. We took him for a PCR test and that was also negative. He's had symptoms for a week now and is only just starting to feel better. Lots of others at his college reporting the same thing. I hope your son feels better soon.

@Onedaylikethis21 my Covid symptoms started as a sore throat only, granted it's not one of the main symptoms listed on government website but I don't think you can rule it out on that basis.

But lots of people I know are coming down with something else over last couple of weeks, and are feeling quite dreadful. Covid negatives on PCRs