Will you self isolate if covid positive test?

[Monopolyiscrap]

Compulsory self-isolation is ending if you test positive with covid. Instead, people are being advised to choose to self-isolate.
In reality, I think many people will not. I would not get paid if I self-isolate but am well enough to work, so why would I forego a week's wages?

So will you self-isolate if you test positive with covid?

YABU - Yes I will self-isolate
YANBU - No I will not self-isolate

@I21018

And it's the same not just when you yourself are ill but DC too.

I can't stay at home again for 10 days because my son had a headache for a single day. We cannot afford to do that anymore, neither can most people I know. My friend just had to stay at home, losing pay, for nearly 20 days because both her children caught it one after the other, neither of whom were even unwell at all. She said she wishes she'd never tested them and that is not selfish at all, it's completely understandable! She now has £600 to live off, to pay her mortgage and bills and buy her children food with.

Calling people like that selfish is what is actually selfish imo. We don't all get the luxury of being able to take a financial hit or work from home whenever we want.

Yes, this. I caught Covid last year then DS caught it from me, I'm a single parent and he's too young to be left home alone so in total it was 16 days isolation, that's a fortnight of lost pay. I can't afford to do that again!

@WhateverHappenedToFayWray
I suffer from some respiratory virus (simple cold probably) that makes my life hellish for the last 2 weeks. I cough at night non stop, can’t sleep properly for days, have a horrible shortness of breath. No fun, but you know what? It’s a cold. From time to time it happens, eventually I recover. I imagine it’s dangerous to vulnerable people, but I’m still expected to crack on with my COLD. There are not tests for cold. There are no isolations for cold. Thankfully I’m recovering now. Covid was 5 times easier to recover from.

@DonGray

Why would you test if you weren't ill?

To rule out that you've got asymptomatic covid.

Given how many times I've been out in recent weeks and heard people coughing i would guess that the ship has already definitely sailed anyway.

I will but only because it suits me. I can wfh, my OH could get the shopping. No big deal really, I’d probably still walk the dog though. For those who have little options and in the above, I can’t blame them for not isolating. I would judge socialising though.

Well, I have never done routine tests and never will, so I wouldn't know. Don't isolate with a cold or flu, so Covid isn't any different now resyrictions dropped. All this ridiculous testing just needs to stop.

[quote okthx]@WhateverHappenedToFayWray
I suffer from some respiratory virus (simple cold probably) that makes my life hellish for the last 2 weeks. I cough at night non stop, can’t sleep properly for days, have a horrible shortness of breath. No fun, but you know what? It’s a cold. From time to time it happens, eventually I recover. I imagine it’s dangerous to vulnerable people, but I’m still expected to crack on with my COLD. There are not tests for cold. There are no isolations for cold. Thankfully I’m recovering now. Covid was 5 times easier to recover from.[/quote]
I'm glad you recovered quickly from covid but I haven't. I've also had pleurisy (which was horrific) twice and covid was was worse. It was nothing like a cold for me. I never want to get it again, I was genuinely scared.

@SweetPotatoDumpling

Surely you just take sick leave...like in 'the olden days' 🤷‍♀️

Not everyone gets 'sick leave' or rather pay. Zero hr contracts / agency work (including supply teachers) SSP only.

This does leave people with a difficult decision.

To rule out that you've got asymptomatic covid

Pointless.

It doesn't rule it out. If you think it does, you are misled.

The cost of testing is harming people's health in other ways indirectly. I'd rather drop asymptomatic testing and invest money in healthcare for people who are actually ill.

In terms of reducing transmission, we are reaching a point where transmission is starting to self limit due to immunity anyway. Plus you can stop omicron anyway.

Those tests aren't free.

This won't affect me much as I work from home anyway but DH is self-employed and his not going to work loses us a fortune so no he won't be testing or isolating before a job.

@User0458832

I imagine those with full sick pay will take time off work.

I have full sick pay, but once the requirement to isolate ends, it’s very possible my employer will take a dim view of anyone using sick leave if not actually unwell enough to work. I currently have covid, but am basically fine and can definitely work - I can’t imagine employers voluntarily continuing to pay full sick pay to people who have it mildly like me, once the law changes.

@Iggly

Yeah, yeah. Selfish to want to be able to actually pay my mortgage and rising bills

The problem is that we accept having shitty employee terms and conditions and an economy which favours the top 1%. And we accept it.

That’s isn’t a problem that is going to be solved in the next two weeks though. So calling people in that situation selfish is completely unreasonable. They still need to eat.

@roastingmichael

If I ever need a reminder of how horribly selfish society can be, I can come back to this thread.

I'm honestly disgusted about the lack of thought and consideration for other people.

Like your lack of thought and consideration for people who are vulnerable in other ways? People who need to leave the house to keep a roof over their heads and feed their kids? People who have died of other causes due to being delayed and ignored as Covid came before everything else? Get your head out of your backside and look around you.

I guess I’d be more wary of passing it on to others than I would have been previously with flu but I think if I didn’t feel ill then no as no doubt wouldn’t have tested. If I felt ill (and tested) I’d probably stay at home. Previously with flu there is always the tendency to go back to work too soon with no regard to spreading it. I would probably be more cautious than that with COVID. At least to start with I guess and then we’ll all slip into treating it like any other illness.

We won't have access to free tests soon - who's going to pay £30 every time they have a cough?

As long as those not testing or not isolating are happy and respectful of those who test and self isolate.

Sorry I will stop there.

Well have a look at this Welsh graph for 5 February week it's not the adults who are testing positive now

[quote okthx]@WhateverHappenedToFayWray
I suffer from some respiratory virus (simple cold probably) that makes my life hellish for the last 2 weeks. I cough at night non stop, can’t sleep properly for days, have a horrible shortness of breath. No fun, but you know what? It’s a cold. From time to time it happens, eventually I recover. I imagine it’s dangerous to vulnerable people, but I’m still expected to crack on with my COLD. There are not tests for cold. There are no isolations for cold. Thankfully I’m recovering now. Covid was 5 times easier to recover from.[/quote]
Colds aren’t covid though are they? Similarities to other, less serious illnesses don’t mean much in the context you’re trying to use them and I don’t think quite prove the point I think you’re trying to make.

I think we’re missing balance with the current exit plan. Whilst we do have to adjust and move on I’m not convinced we’re there. We’re still at the mercy of the progression of the virus globally and winding down any capabilities to track the progression of the disease through the population is foolhardy imho. I don’t want to go backwards but functioning essentially blind seems a likelier path back that way rather than exercising cautious surveillance for longer.

It could all be fine, and I really hope it is, but I’m not going to pretend that this isn’t the massive gamble that it is.

I will in the sense that I work from home so just won't go out, but I will still need to take my DD to school so I'd still go out for that.

She's missed so much so I wouldn't only keep her off if she's too ill to actually learn.

In Australia we have had to pay for our own tests (often $20 each). After an initial flurry over xmas when covid finally took off here, the novelty has worn off. Most people I know aren't testing regularly. Its too expensive to buy the tests.

@nanbread

We won't have access to free tests soon - who's going to pay £30 every time they have a cough?

People who don’t quite make the cut off to be considered CEV but would need to have medical input from their doctor asap if they contracted covid I imagine.

I won't ever test again and if I'm unwell will stay at home - as before.

@nanbread

We won't have access to free tests soon - who's going to pay £30 every time they have a cough?

Wow is that how much they will cost??

I will be working as normal, not using it as a 'sickness' if I feel ok. We get 3 sickness per rolling year otherwise it would go as unpaid absence

Not prepared to lose pay and it's retail so can't wfh

@WhateverHappenedToFayWray
I know what you mean and I certainly believe that some people are very sick with covid. But I also know that even a simple cold, and of course flu can cause very bad complications and we all know that for ages. But no one does anything about it so I don’t see why covid had to be treated differently. Every virus spreads and involves into something, so many viruses around. We can’t test covid as anything different anymore.

I work in a school. I assume we'll still be expected to go in if positive so probably no point in continuing to test twice weekly as we're expected to do now.