Are we still testing for Covid? AIBU not to?

[Shameus]

Started feeling a bit crap at work on Thursday. Morning. By Thursday night I felt like I had a head cold. Yesterday started with a really sore mouth - as if my mouth and throat was full of ulcers, bit of a cough. Headache.
This morning I have no sense of taste or smell. I know this can happen to a degree with a cold but It’s not just a lessened sense, it’s gone completely. My coffee tastes like hot water.

Are we still testing for Covid?? I’ve seen that you can get lateral flow tests from boots but would you bother?

YABU - don’t be spreading your Covid germs
YANBU - treat it like a cold

I think people should test and if positive stay away from others.

Will you be paying for the tests and providing sick pay for those who can't work remotely, then?

I would if I had your symptoms.

Everyone I know is testing. I know a lot of people who have had it in the last month.

We still test if we have symptoms. I visit my elderly parents most days and DH has a job which means he has to go into lots of homes (including some care homes). We both had it a couple of weeks ago & DH lost quite a bit of income (self employed), but was too ill to have worked anyway. I barely knew I had it, and I wfh anyway. I do understand why people don't test, but it just seems sensible in our situation.

Nobody is testing for Covid. People who say they have Covid are probably just trying to scam a few days off work. Just treat it like a cold because, even if it is Covid, we all now know that it is not a serious illness.

No, DH tested positive on Thursday. He says it is far worse than a cold. He has been struggling to breathe, with his oxygen down to 91% and his resting heart rate very high for him - he has coronary artery disease and heart failure.

I had to speak to a medical research centre, attached to a care home the other day. They said, we can’t go for 14 days, because people can be infectious that long - well I could go, if I hadn’t been in contact with him.

If Covid was just a cold for everybody, why is the number one medical research centre in the world, in its field, saying we can’t go for 14 days?

I last tested last year

No need to test, it’s pointless.

Just do the same as you would for any illness - if you feel well enough to go out, do. If you don’t, dont.

I've done a couple of tests this week. Friend I was with all day Sat tested positive on Tues, so I did a couple of tests (despite having no symptoms) as seeing elderly relative today.

I tested recently as a friend I'd been in close contact with was positive and I was due to have surgery a couple of days later. Other than that, I wouldn't test generally. I had free tests due to the surgery but I wouldn't have bought any.

Strangely, I got super sense of smell when I did have covid! I can usually barely smell anything, I could smell loads. It was bloody amazing.

The vast majority of people I know are just treating it as a cold. If I was feeling OK and testing positive, I'd likely carry on as normal.

I still test when travelling between places where I couldn’t make vulnerable people sick.

i wish we could test this easily for all infections!

I also still mask on public transport, in crowded spaces and when in any medical setting.

Often I’m to only one who does.

Fortunately I don’t care about following the herd and make decisions based on reading scientific journals not social media

I tested positive a few weeks ago. I mostly tested because I had my booster booked for a few days later and you aren't supposed to have it within a month of having had covid. Also my parents are vulnerable so would risk passing it on.

DH and DD had it too (although we didn't test DD, just assumed she had it because we did). For them it was basically just a mild cold. DD carried on going to nursery because the policy is now that if you are well enough you can.

For me, I was really ill, high temp, crippling headaches, aching all over, coughing, sore throat, and no taste for a week.

"People claim it's covid just to take a few days off work" - if only!! Just because you are lucky it's mild for you doesn't mean it's mild for everyone.

People do need to carry on to an extent now. DH went to a shop because we needed some food - he wore a mask because that is the considerate thing to do.

Work policy is to work from home if you are feeling under the weather. And that is covid or any of the other myriad bugs flying around, because who wants to be ill, covid or not. DH and I are lucky in that both our jobs can be done from home so we can stay home with a cough and not risk sharing it when we're under the weather but not ill enough to work. I know it's not that simple for everyone though.

We do test if there are Covid symptoms, and recently 2/4 of us did test positive, so I isolated in the spare room and we didn't go out for 5 days (other than walking the dog in the nearby fields). There are still people who are vulnerable and can't process the vaccine so personally I don't think it's right to spread it.

@chaztree we still have about 5 boxes of the nhs ones and still in date but I have heard that some variants are not showing.

We ran out of tests and I don’t intend to get any more.

Treat it like any other illness. Stay home if you’re too ill to work or go about your usual business and crack on once you feel a bit better.

I haven't tested since February. If I was feeling like that I'd wfh though.

I tested last week when a had a cough that was very like the one l had when l had covid. Was negative. but l only tested because l have so many tests at home. I work in a care home and there are so many tests lying around. No one is testing regularly at work. We are supposed to test when we have symptoms but l think most people don't as we don't get paid if we go off sick.

Plenty of people are still testing, as shown by this thread and the official stats.

coronavirus.data.gov.uk/details/cases

The guidance asks you to stay away from others anyway if symptomatic if you can, and especially from those at higher risk, whether or not you have tested positive.

www.nhs.uk/conditions/coronavirus-covid-19/self-isolation-and-treatment/when-to-self-isolate-and-what-to-do/

"Try to stay at home and avoid contact with others if you have tested positive for coronavirus (COVID-19) or have symptoms of COVID-19."

I wouldn't go out and about with a proper cold if I could help it, and wouldn't have done pre-covid either.

(Negative LFDs don't mean you don't have it or the tests aren't working - you may have it, with a low viral load perhaps because of prior infection or vax, and unlikely to be infectious. They are not PCRs).

We would test. Hope you feel better soon.

I hope you feel better soon and can enjoy your coffee again!

Yes, I test - because of extremely vulnerable people i see and want to keep safe.

Also for my colleagues, as I know some would be in a tough position if I spread it round workplace as they can't afford more time off and it really is a toss up how badly an individual gets it (not necessarily ill enough for hospital, but too ill to get up for a few days is alarmingly common)

I'd definitely test if i lost sense of taste/smell

I do but only because of my job and I also care for my Nan.
had covid back in september, was my first time, still can’t taste properly now!!!

My son had a cough a few weels ago hes ,disabled and goes to a special school ,some of the children are extemely medically vulnerable ie on oxygen ,tube fed etc ,but when i asked his class teacher if i needed to test him she said no if hes well enough to come into school send him i did have covid in the summer and i suspect i had it again a few weeks ago ,i kept away from my elderly parents as my mum in paticular is vey frail ,but i would stay away with any virus

I don’t know anyone who is still testing. The LFTs are always piled high in my local Boots and Superdrug - I have never seen anyone buy one.

I’ve never tested so won’t be starting now

We are still testing at work and i would hope our visitors would test or stay away if they thought they were ill. I have to see about 100 visitors a week and have had covid twice. Still recovering from 2nd time. Its not a cold for many people.