Active discussions

Meet the Other Phone. A phone that grows with your child.

Meet the Other Phone.
A phone that grows with your child.

Buy now

Please or to access all these features

Talk
AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Original poster

To not test for covid if you feel unwell?

167 replies

ValerieCupcake · 07/04/2022 15:14

Well, more like are THEY being unreasonable.

Discussion at work today about covid. Couple of colleagues said they won't test if they get say a sore throat or cold symptoms as we have to live with it. They will just get on with things. Get on with things means going out, going to work etc if they are able to. Even without a test.

Would you test? I would. Am I unreasonable? Or are they?

OP posts:
Thread gallery
5
Tdcp · 07/04/2022 15:15

Lft are too expensive now. I can't afford to take one even if I wanted to

Original poster
ValerieCupcake · 07/04/2022 15:15

@Tdcp

Lft are too expensive now. I can't afford to take one even if I wanted to
But would you stop at home if you thought you had it?
OP posts:
LibrariesGiveUsPower · 07/04/2022 15:15

Which way should we vote?

I’ll only test now if I have clear cut symptoms or about to visit very vulnerable people.

girlmom21 · 07/04/2022 15:15

Considering you have to pay for tests in most circumstances, almost nobody will continue testing once the ones they have run out.

ForeverLooking · 07/04/2022 15:16

I've currently got tests so yes, I would. When those run out, then no.

Original poster
ValerieCupcake · 07/04/2022 15:16

@LibrariesGiveUsPower

Which way should we vote?

I’ll only test now if I have clear cut symptoms or about to visit very vulnerable people.

I wouldn't do it as a regular thing. But if I got cold symptoms or a sore throat or a cough I would.
OP posts:
LibrariesGiveUsPower · 07/04/2022 15:16

@Tdcp

Lft are too expensive now. I can't afford to take one even if I wanted to
Free in Wales if you have symptoms, is England not the same?
jenandberries · 07/04/2022 15:16

I have no flow tests left now and it is expensive for a family to pay for them, especially with how expensive everything else is right now.

With young kids we are constantly getting colds and bugs through the house.

girlmom21 · 07/04/2022 15:17

But would you stop at home if you thought you had it?

For a cold or sore throat? Absolutely not.

Absence from work is used against you in disciplinaries, redundancies and when being considered for a promotion

Jules912 · 07/04/2022 15:20

Well the current guidance is to only stay home if you have a fever or feel too ill to work (and only test if you're in one of the groups that get free tests). Personally I would test (at least until I run out of tests) but if I couldn't wfh I'd get fired if I took time off every time I had a cold!

CornishGem1975 · 07/04/2022 15:21

Hardly anyone is going to test now you have to pay, and you can't just take a day off every time you sneeze, you'll lose your job.

If I tested every time I felt a little under the weather, peaky, headache, had a sniffle, scratchy throat...I'd be bankrupt. That's life in your 40s Blush

Lacedwithgrace · 07/04/2022 15:25

People have always been selfish like that, just now they can do it legally

SlashBeef · 07/04/2022 15:26

Nope I won't test. Between the cost of food and the ridiculous energy bills, paying for LFTs is waaaay down my list of priorities.

SpringRainbow · 07/04/2022 15:27

We still have some tests so yes me and DH will tests.

I’m not testing my children though, school want them in. They have made it clear attendance is a top priority.

Once we run out of tests then I really doubt we’ll be buying any. We need to prioritise other things, we can’t afford to buy tests to cover every cold.

Unanananana · 07/04/2022 15:29

LFT aren't meant to be used when yoy have symptoms and PCRs are only offered to certain people.

So no. I wouldn't test and I would have to go to work if I was well enough. I couldn't afford to stay off 'just in case'. I cannot WFH in my new role and I'm not prepared to lose my job for a 'maybe'.

BulletTrain · 07/04/2022 15:31

I will test while I have some but I can't take 3 days off every time I have a cold. It's not like you test positive on day one in every case!

Partypoooooper · 07/04/2022 15:33

I completely agree with your colleagues.

Overthebow · 07/04/2022 15:35

I won’t be paying for tests and I won’t be staying in for every little cold or cough. My DC is in nursery so we often have colds, we’d never be out if we stayed in for all of them. If people are worried about catching covid they will have to be the ones to stay in.

Pumpfive · 07/04/2022 15:35

@Unanananana

LFT aren't meant to be used when yoy have symptoms and PCRs are only offered to certain people.

So no. I wouldn't test and I would have to go to work if I was well enough. I couldn't afford to stay off 'just in case'. I cannot WFH in my new role and I'm not prepared to lose my job for a 'maybe'.

This is incorrect advice. The leaflets on LFT's have said for AGES now that they can be used with symptoms. And I know a good 50-60 people who had covid within the last month. Not 1 of them had a PCR. They were all picked up through LFT.
passport123 · 07/04/2022 15:37

I'm a GP. Every day I speak to loads of people who have a cough/fever and it didn't occur to them to test. That's been the case throughout the pandemic. We've even coined a phrase 'Schrodinger's cough' - the cough that is so bad that you ring your GP to ask for antibiotics, whilst at the same time not being bad enought that you need to self-isolate or test. So no, the bulk of the population hasn't been testing with free tests and they certainly won't with paid ones.

CrystalCoco · 07/04/2022 15:43

I agree with your colleagues, I won't be testing - it's part of 'learning to live with covid' as far as I'm concerned

Daisythedieselrailcar · 07/04/2022 15:45

If I feel unwell enough not to go out I will stay in as pre covid. I have a child who has a runny nose and mild cold symptoms for much of the year. Happy to test if someone will give us tests otherwise will proceed as before.

Unanananana · 07/04/2022 15:49

Happy to be corrected.

I won't be buying LFTs to test either way. I don't imagine there are many people that would in the current climate with energy and petrol rises. My own family having a roof over their head trumps the 'just in case'.

EV117 · 07/04/2022 15:57

I’ve had Covid - if I thought I had it again I wouldn’t be able to go anywhere if I wanted to, I’d most likely be too ill. If I can function well enough to go about my normal business I would assume it’s a cold tbh.

Jizzle · 07/04/2022 16:00

I've got a few symptoms at present, but I am at work. The free testing has ended and I am not going to continually pay to test myself with what is more than likely just the kind of cold i get 4/5 times a year.