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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
Juggle42 · 08/04/2022 10:32

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

For cold symtpoms? Like I get fortnightly with a child in nursery? No. Not unless I was actually ill enough to need to.

Clickbait21 · 08/04/2022 10:34

I stopped testing ages ago

ArcheryAnnie · 08/04/2022 11:38

[quote girlmom21]@ArcheryAnnie what would your approach have been two weeks ago, before you were really poorly? [/quote]
I know what my approach was, because I did it - I've been punctilious about mask-wearing and social distancing and all the rest of it for the whole time, not least because I got covid quite badly just before the first lockdown in March 2020. I have been testing for several days running before having close contact with people (eg visiting, etc) and anytime I felt warranted it. I will continue to test anytime I feel ill, and before close contact with vulnerable people.

OfstedOffred · 08/04/2022 11:43

I have young kids. One or other always seems to have runny nose etc.

I only have 3 LFTs left and I am saving them for when DD has a hospital appt next month as she will be around extremely vulnerable kids.

user1471443411 · 08/04/2022 11:46

I think it depends on how unwell you feel as well. We can't go on testing for every little cough or cold for the rest of our lives, but then again it might be important to know for some people.

Overthebow · 08/04/2022 13:56

@ArcheryAnnie that’s great you were able to do all of that for so long, but for many of us that is not sustainable. Personally I don’t have the head space to constantly think about Covid, distancing, wearing a mask or testing. I have a busy job and young DC, I am just about able to keep up with day to day activities but covid just doesn’t enter my thoughts regularly anymore. I’m not going to spend my own money on testing instead of spending on a day out or treat for my DC, and I’m certainly not going to keep my DC isolated every time she gets a sniffle. This is the reality for most people now, covid is not high on the priority list and of course I prioritise my family over others I don’t even know. As I said before, it’s up to you to protect yourself now, not up to others. It may mean hard choices for some people but Covid isn’t going to go away so this is how it is now.

ArcheryAnnie · 08/04/2022 23:41

Personally I don’t have the head space to constantly think about Covid, distancing, wearing a mask or testing. I have a busy job

And you think I do have tons of spare headspace, Overthebow? Or that I don't have a busy job?

To me, this is like "not having the headspace" to making sure the tyres on your car aren't bald, or that your gas boiler isn't silently killing you with carbon monoxide- it's boring and inconvenient and expensive, but it's the right thing to do if you don't want to cause other people injury.

Fizbosshoes · 08/04/2022 23:51

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

People have called other people "selfish" from the start of the pandemic.
Most people are selfish - as in they would put themselves and their family's needs above strangers. Its basic survival. If the choice was going out to work with a sore throat, because you need to pay bills/feed your kids, or staying in, in case it is covid, I imagine majority will go for option 1.

Overthebow · 09/04/2022 08:18

@ArcheryAnnie

Personally I don’t have the head space to constantly think about Covid, distancing, wearing a mask or testing. I have a busy job

And you think I do have tons of spare headspace, Overthebow? Or that I don't have a busy job?

To me, this is like "not having the headspace" to making sure the tyres on your car aren't bald, or that your gas boiler isn't silently killing you with carbon monoxide- it's boring and inconvenient and expensive, but it's the right thing to do if you don't want to cause other people injury.

My point, being blunt, is that you and others are not my problem. I am not doing anything illegal and the onus is on you to protect yourself. You cannot rely on others, who don’t know you and who may have far bigger things in their lives to worry about, to protect you when there is no requirement to. Covid is here to stay and will circulate every year from now on. You need to either get on with life and stop worrying about what everyone else is or isn’t doing, or decide you’re too scared of covid to do that and adapt/change your life accordingly. You cannot expect others to do it for you.
ReadyToMoveIt · 09/04/2022 08:20

@Fizbosshoes

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

People have called other people "selfish" from the start of the pandemic.
Most people are selfish - as in they would put themselves and their family's needs above strangers. Its basic survival. If the choice was going out to work with a sore throat, because you need to pay bills/feed your kids, or staying in, in case it is covid, I imagine majority will go for option 1.

Yeah… absolutely I’m selfish. Feeding my children is my priority. They’re my responsibility, and I put their needs above anyone else’s.
Quartz2208 · 09/04/2022 08:24

I take it you don’t have allergies then as that would mean pretty much testing all the time

If I had a virus that came with a fever or a bad cough or Ill enough to stop me I would use the remaining tests and stay at home

Guidance now though even for schools is 3 days if you have those kind of things which actually is the time you would need off

thewhatsit · 09/04/2022 08:54

I wouldn't do it as a regular thing. But if I got cold symptoms or a sore throat or a cough I would.

Those symptoms are a regular thing though for a lot of people. I have young DC and I would say one of us in the house has vague cold symptoms at least 60% of the time. Hopefully less as usual in spring and summer.

ArcheryAnnie · 09/04/2022 12:16

This link is for Overthebow and anyone else who thinks that just because something is legal, that makes it OK.

(Would you go out and stab your unpleasant relatives for the inheritance if it was legal? If not, why not?)

www.bbc.co.uk/news/av/disability-60846686

JustDanceAddict · 09/04/2022 12:21

I had a bad cold recently- I took pcr and lfts (when still free) - I wasn’t well enough to go into work so wfh but that wasn’t cos I thought I had covid. I think my stance now is to only test when have obvious cold symptoms. Wouldn’t bother for a sore throat - I reckon I’ve had it though as didn’t catch from dh or ds in past few weeks.
If a vulnerable person asks me to test before seeing them then I will.

LittleBearPad · 09/04/2022 12:25

To me, this is like "not having the headspace" to making sure the tyres on your car aren't bald, or that your gas boiler isn't silently killing you with carbon monoxide- it's boring and inconvenient and expensive, but it's the right thing to do if you don't want to cause other people injury.

But it’s not equivalent at all. The carbon monoxide monitor by our boiler sits there doing it’s thing. I don’t have to do anything ever (they’re on mains electricity). The tyres thing I listen when the car is MOT’d and sort it or check in six months (DH checks to be honest). It’s not the same as testing sniffly children and they are sniffly more than they aren’t for all sorts of reasons which means we are too, hurling myself and them out the path of other people, never going anywhere crowded - theatres, tube, restaurants etc. Enough.

CharityShopChic · 09/04/2022 12:28

I've had Covid recently, it was very mild. I won't be testing for it again.

CharityShopChic · 09/04/2022 12:47

All this "anyone with symptoms of any illness should stay home until they are 100% better to protect the vulnerable" nonsense....

Those of us with allergies sneeze a lot and are snotty a lot. If I stayed in every day I sneezed, I'd never be out.

Before March 2020 it was not our collective job to "protect the vulnerable". It was quite simple - you stayed at home if you were ill, or if you suspected you had something really contagious like norovirus or a child with chicken pox.

But we weren't being told that we were selfish granny-killers for not testing for norovirus every time we felt a little queasy.

zingally · 09/04/2022 14:06

I had covid 2 weeks ago. I had 72 hours of feeling a bit pants, but it was just a fluey cold really. I was more than ready to go back to work after 4 days, but work wouldn't have me until I had 2 clear tests.

But now you have to pay for tests, I won't be bothering. In all honesty, I've been to work feeling much worse than I did when I had covid.

Heartbroken2007 · 09/04/2022 14:50

No I won't be testing, every time I have a headache/sneeze etc. I can't afford the tests or the time off work.

I am fed up of being told I don't care for vulnerable people etc when I have put my life on hold for two years, and seen my mental health reduce to the point of suicidal thoughts because of loneliness.

Why I am selfish for getting on with things so I can afford to pay my rent rather than people who demand I stay locked up every time I sneeze?

MrsJBaptiste · 09/04/2022 15:13

Oh come on, we're living with Covid now which means not having to test, not having to isolate and going about as we used to whether we have Covid or not and let's face it, most people could have it as barely anyone is testing anymore. Myself included. I have a few boxes here leftover from Christmas time but I can't see us ever using them now (thank God)

EmeraldShamrock1 · 09/04/2022 15:20

Yes I'd test.

Ireland didn't offer free antigen tests until recently so everyone paid for their antigen tests from their pocket or employers pocket paid.

Notanotherwindow · 09/04/2022 15:20

Iateral flow tests are £2...

Hardly expensive. I'll test if feeling unwell but not otherwise. If I get a positive I'll call in sick like any responsible person.

girlmom21 · 09/04/2022 15:35

@Notanotherwindow

Iateral flow tests are £2...

Hardly expensive. I'll test if feeling unwell but not otherwise. If I get a positive I'll call in sick like any responsible person.

Many people have a few people in their household. £2 for 5 tests soon adds up if you're testing every time someone has a sore throat or a stuffy nose, especially in hay fever seasons and for people with young children will all the germs.
CharityShopChic · 09/04/2022 17:58

There are 5 of us in this house. £10 a day on lateral flows? Or just a tenner every time someone sneezes?

PinkSparklyPussyCat · 09/04/2022 19:25

@BogRollBOGOF

It's hayfever season. Not testing daily until mid-August!

Maybe for actual illness as a guide for recovery, but at that level I'd be adjusting what I'd be doing anyway.

Same here. I'll test if I'm seeing my vulnerable friend but that's it.
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