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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:
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5
Moody123 · 07/04/2022 18:51

Now I have to pay for LFT I won't be testing ... they have increased the symptoms of Covid to include absolutely everything, all through summer I have a runny nose and sore throat due to hayfeever ... I'd be bankrupt

SexyLittleNosferatu · 07/04/2022 18:56

I've already said this on another thread. I think I had it again last week. I didn't test. I went to work. The faux outrage is really only seen on here and in reality most people are just cracking on.

Hbh17 · 07/04/2022 18:58

Testing is no longer required (& has been pointless for months). I would not test, even if the tests were free.
Do you test for a cold? No - you use your common sense.

LittleBearPad · 07/04/2022 19:00

@gettingolderandgrumpy

I ordered them just clicked I had symptoms as I have *@LittleBearPad*
@gettingolderandgrumpy which of those eligibility criteria did you meet?
Violinist64 · 07/04/2022 19:00

I know many people with Covid are asymptomatic or have very few symptoms but I have had it for the best part of a week. I feel better in some ways but still have no energy whatsoever. I have carried on teaching most of my pupils online and paying the price so today I have given in. It is the last week of term anyway. There is no way I could have gone to work outside the home or taught in person. I have tested but I wouldn’t need a test to tell me l am not well enough to teach in person or work in an office. It is pretty obvious that l am infectious.

Pumpfive · 07/04/2022 19:05

@Unanananana

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'.

No worries! I agree I won't be buying them either mind you!
oatlattetogo · 07/04/2022 19:19

I will be expected to be in work if I have covid (unless I am actually too ill to be there) and I have to travel there on public transport, so I don’t really see the point in testing. I guess I could warn others that it’s covid and not a generic cold, but other than that…

I have some LFTs left, but I will keep those to do before I go and see elderly relatives, etc. However even that feels a bit pointless as they go out and mix with others all the time now!

xXwhenwillitendXx · 07/04/2022 19:31

I currently have covid... I've had worse colds.
The only reason I tested is because i had a sore throat and random night sweats and was due to visit my elderly parents. If I didn't have any tests and wasn't going to see parents, I would of thought it was a bit of a cold and never tested.
With my symptoms being what they are it makes me think most of the population are now walking round positive and have no idea, so one person testing and isolating is going to make no difference

Whoopsmahoot · 07/04/2022 20:02

Yes I will continue to test. I am immunosuppressed as is my son. Both my parents live on their own in their 90s and the last thing I want to do is take it to them. One has heart issues and the other immunosuppressed. COVID would most likely kill them.

ArcheryAnnie · 07/04/2022 23:25

and I cannot afford to stay at home and not work

I can't afford to stay home and not work, either, ReadyToMoveIt, and yet here I am, off ill (and in pain), yet again, because of covid.

All you who wander about with symptoms, because you won't stay home even when you know you are infectious - you may be ending a stranger's working life altogether.

maddening · 07/04/2022 23:40

We have a few tests left, ds had covid in January, dh and I have just had covid so I would not test for the next 3 months as it is unlikely to hit again, so a risk based approach. After that I would only test after feeling ill for 3 days as it takes a few days to get to the point of showing on a test and I have a limited number.

I am lucky to be a hybrid worker so can wfh though, I would not go in the office with it. Dh wfh permanently, I totally understand that this is not the same for people who do not have the option to wfh and also won't be paid if refusing to work when they are actually only mildly ill and therefore fit to work.

ReadyToMoveIt · 07/04/2022 23:45

@ArcheryAnnie

and I cannot afford to stay at home and not work

I can't afford to stay home and not work, either, ReadyToMoveIt, and yet here I am, off ill (and in pain), yet again, because of covid.

All you who wander about with symptoms, because you won't stay home even when you know you are infectious - you may be ending a stranger's working life altogether.

Putting food on the table for my children is my priority. Call me whatever names you like, but it’s the truth.
DontLookBackInAnger1 · 08/04/2022 02:16

@ArcheryAnnie

No one is purposely going to give you covid

They are not taking any measures to avoid it, though, are they? Even when they know they either have covid, or when covid is a likely suspect.

I am as careful as I can - I wear a clean, well-fitting mask when out and about, I wash my hands regularly, I try and keep a social distance from other people, even when they don't keep a social distance from me. I let tubes go by when they are busy, and wait for the next one. But I have a job where I need to be physically present, so I do need to travel across London and interact with other people in order to earn a living.

If I sat in a cinema throwing knives it wouldn't be a defence that I didn't intend to harm anyone, I just needed to practice my circus act.

You are all so blasé now. If you end up as unlucky as I have, I don't think you will be quite so cavalier about being careful.

What's the alternative?

If you or a loved one gets cancer, a heart condition, needs physio etc, will you be ok accepting a huge wait for treatment due to staff absence causing long waiting lists?

Are you ok with price rises in your goods and services due to companies having to cover and pay for increased staff sickness and cover?

What has happened to you is rare and unfortunate. But that doesn't mean society as a whole is better to keep isolating. MOST people suffer cold symptoms if anything at all with Covid. Some experience mild flu symptoms. Let's not act like most people will have to leave their work permanently due to Covid (although I sympathise with you for your position).

My child has a SEN need that requires regular therapy. That has been heavily reduced/non existent over the pandemic. People are losing out on vital services all the time at the moment due to unnecessary isolating. It's time it stops, for their sakes as well as economic/social reasons.

ArcheryAnnie · 08/04/2022 02:25

What has happened to you is rare and unfortunate

Except it isn't rare at all. It just hasn't happened to you yet.

Ffs, I never thought I'd have to argue on MN that walking around being reckless as to whether you were infecting others with a highly infectious disease was an immoral way to behave, and yet here we are.

Stopsnowing · 08/04/2022 02:29

I had three weeks of crushing fatigue, sore throat and felt really strange. Tested twice for covid. It wasn’t. I did wfh as I could. My attitude to viruses has changed and I will avoid being round people if I have a Herod virus even if it isn’t covid. But going forward I will only test if I feel unwell and need to see a vulnerable person.

user1487194234 · 08/04/2022 02:51

If it's a choice between going to work and getting paid or staying home and not most people will go to work

Dimondsareforever · 08/04/2022 09:07

With symptoms yes I would.

Krustykrabpizza · 08/04/2022 09:18

I currently have COVID and only tested because I had tests at home. I would've been too ill to go to work anyway. I feel alright now but still positive on tests. I won't be testing once I've used up all my remaining lateral flow tests tbh, life has to go on

girlmom21 · 08/04/2022 09:19

@ArcheryAnnie what would your approach have been two weeks ago, before you were really poorly?

Krustykrabpizza · 08/04/2022 09:20

@ArcheryAnnie

What has happened to you is rare and unfortunate

Except it isn't rare at all. It just hasn't happened to you yet.

Ffs, I never thought I'd have to argue on MN that walking around being reckless as to whether you were infecting others with a highly infectious disease was an immoral way to behave, and yet here we are.

How do you suggest people heat their homes and feed their children if they stay home every time they have the sniffles?
Lazypuppy · 08/04/2022 09:21

No i won't test (i'm not paying for them) and won't stay home unless i am genuinely unwell, a cough or a cold is not a reason to stay home anymore

Sartre · 08/04/2022 09:22

It’s £2 a test which is fine if it’s just you taking one and £2 is the sort of money you can afford to spend on a test. Many have children who also have the same symptoms though so that £2 could easily turn into £10 or more and it might just be a cold. Nobody wants to pay for the tests and I don’t blame them, I don’t either. Would I stay home with cold symptoms? No, I wouldn’t. If I had a blazing temperature then I would but a sniffly nose, no chance.

Giveaschitt · 08/04/2022 09:32

Given that both times I've had covid I've had nothing but a slightly tickly nose for a couple of days, then no, I won't be testing if I have cold symptoms, because for me they don't seem to indicate covid at all... And I'm not testing every time I get a tickly nose, because I get that for loads of other reasons too and I'm not made of money.

Violinist64 · 08/04/2022 09:35

@ArcheryAnnie

and I cannot afford to stay at home and not work

I can't afford to stay home and not work, either, ReadyToMoveIt, and yet here I am, off ill (and in pain), yet again, because of covid.

All you who wander about with symptoms, because you won't stay home even when you know you are infectious - you may be ending a stranger's working life altogether.

I couldn’t agree more. I am self-employed and have had to cancel work because of Covid
lanthanum · 08/04/2022 10:27

The school has told us that pupils should stay off if they have tested positive, and did mention that they still have some tests for those showing symptoms. I don't know whether that means that they will test my daughter if she turns up (as is very likely) with covid/hayfever symptoms the week before GCSEs start. If she is in school with the level of symptoms she had last year, I think her peers will want to know that she is testing negative.

I'm still testing, because I have varying hayfever symptoms, and they could so easily mask covid. I had a sore throat even on rainy/snowy days last week, and I wouldn't have felt easy about seeing some relatively vulnerable people had I not tested.

We're lucky, though - we can afford the tests, we can work from home. I'm not going to hold anything against those who say they can't afford testing. I'm less happy about those entering crowded indoor spaces who know they fairly likely have it, though, especially for leisure purposes.