to wonder who is right in this disagreement?

[WiganDiva]

Just had a conversation with my cousin, who is coming on Xmas Day with her family. There will be twelve in total. She mentioned in passing about doing a LFT on Xmas Eve.

It turns out her family are doing LFTs before they go anywhere and meet anyone. And, crucially, she assumes everyone else is doing the same.

We only test when we’ve been a close contact (or symptoms) and are otherwise carrying on with our lives. No one we’ve met or are planning to meet has asked us about LFTs beforehand.

She says this no one asks because everyone is doing them and it’s a given. I think no one asks because everyone is doing what they feel comfortable with and would explicitly ask if they wanted everyone they were meeting to have done a LFT first.

What do you think? This is not about the rights/wrongs of testing but about what people are assuming about other people.

I dunno. Would you not just agree to do them because it's handy enough and clearly matters to her family.

I wouldn't assume either.
But do think people should LFT before meeting indoors for Christmas.

Yes I would assume if you are attending or hosting a gathering everyone does a LFT

I don’t, but if someone asked me to do one, I wouldn’t have a problem with it.

I dont do them at every given moment but will probably do one Christmas eve before meeting with all my family

I would absolutely assume most people meeting others indoors would do LFTs beforehand, yes.

I would assume that everyone is doing one before meeting a whole load of relatives indoors for hours on end.

Its just common sense that people will do this, surely?

I heard an ad on the radio this morning suggesting that people do just that.

Yes it's common courtesy and respectful of others to do them. You can order online and have delivered to you house as mine were this morning and they are free. I don't see the problem personally

I do one before I meet up with people socially, I think it's just the polite thing to do these days.

I with you OP. We've never routinely tested before meeting up with people and it wouldn't occur to me others expected it.

I don't know anyone who is doing LFT's unless they've been in contact with a positive case.

Everyone around here is just living their lives as normal as far as I can tell. Shops, pubs, restaurants etc. are as busy as ever. People are wearing masks but that's it.

I've always done one if meeting up with anyone indoors. I would assume that yes, its pretty much a given isn't it to do a test before going to someones house for christmas?

I don’t think you can assume this is what everyone is doing.

I wouldn’t assume anything. If it’s important to you that people you meet will have done a LFT, then the onus is on you to ask them to do so

You can't assume people are - I always do and I have to test before I go into the office as well. However a couple of parents in DC2's class were surprised that people tested at all - they hadn't ever tested.

I'd hope that people were testing but wouldn't assume that they were.

I assume that nobody is doing anything, and take precautions as much as I can myself. I would like to hope that my friend and colleagues are taking LFTs regularly, as they provide boxes and boxes of them at work, and encourage us to take them frequently. I know for sure that my closest friend takes them regularly as she was a shielder and is vulnerable, and I know that a couple of my closest colleagues take them regularly, but I don't know about anyone else, so assume the worst. But I do think that someone who can take them but chooses not to before meeting people indoors is a selfish arse.

I would and would think most people would. You don't want to be responsible for the death of someone else because you didn't think to test before meeting up. Secondary school DC have been required to test twice a week for ages. Dh would test before going into work. It's normal for us.

I assume people are doing LFT’s before going to any kind of gathering.

I’ve only been doing them if I’ve had symptoms, and before I saw my 96 year old grandma. Definitely not testing routinely!

LFT test if you are likely to be transmitting the virus. So much more useful before meeting people then after, when you may have only just caught the virus and will not show up as positive

I do an LFT before socialising and it’s something we had discussed with my friends and family- they were already doing it- I assumed they would be but wanted to check. Tbh I’d have thought most people meeting up would be doing them but who knows!

I would assume everyone does, or should do, them for large gatherings.

I would say less than half of people are doing them regularly.