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 am only doing a LFT if I think I have symptoms and about to visit elderly relative in care home. I felt i ought to have some tests at home for this as we ran out and paid £17 for 10, is that average?

I am still testing but I work with front line NHS staff

I've had hardly any sense of taste / smell for over a week and still testing negative

People with too much time on their hands and an obsession with Covid hysteria are still testing. The obsession is a worse disease than the virus itself.

Because many people have family and friends who are clinically extremely vulnerable. There are around 500,000 people in the UK who either can't have the vaccine or who haven't developed any antibodies despite having had 6 vaccinations and have a medical condition that means they have a poor outcome if they catch covid. These are the people who are ending up in icu and dying at the moment. moment, these are people of all ages including children.

@Sugarplumfairy65 so do you expect people to test forever and stay at home to protect the vulnerable? Covid is going to be with us forever so by your logic everyone has to test forever. Obviously that's never going to happen so the vulnerable need to do the best they can to protect themselves.

That's an incredibly offensive sweeping statement. I don't think I am "obsessive" for testing if symptomatic to avoid contact with people who may be clinically vulnerable or before visiting a friend who is nearly 90 and has respiratory problems.

Nope, no and no.

But they can't protect themselves if people who are positive are sat in GP surgeries, going to pharmacies, supermarkets etc. Except for wearing an FFP2 mask I guess
I'm still wearing a mask and getting comments and looks, but if people aren't testing that's the only thing I can do
WFH FT and have since I was sent home at the start of March 2020
This week I have HAD to go to 2 hospitals for tests, a blood test clinic, the GP and then the pharmacy twice. I can't avoid those

Incredibly offensive? Not vile then? That’s usually the hyperbolic response to stuff like this.

If the government want people who are positive to stay home, they need to pay them full sick pay - including those who are self-employed or on zero hour contracts.

Until that happens, it's a losing battle. People can't afford to keep staying off work without pay.

Thankfully my work still require people to test (full pay) so I can go in occasionally to say hi
Apart from that I'm still isolated. They're kindly having the Christmas do in a private room so I can go

@PeloFondo I could be sat in a surgery next to a vulnerable person and be completely asymptomatic. Vulnerable people should do the best they can to protect themselves when out and other than that stay at home. There's no other viable option. 66.5 million people cannot continually test for the sake of 500,000 vulnerable people.

I don't go in for using the word vile. I know what I said and you know what I meant.

As for hyperbolic, look at the words you used. I really don't think you have room to criticise here.

Have you read any of the reasons posted as to why some people are testing?

It isn't pointless in many situations.

The cev have no way to protect themselves. They too have to work to pay the bills, the children have to go to school.
The simple solution would be for the government to fund Evushield but they won't. Just about every other country in the western world has been using it for months but this government can't make their mind up if its worth the cost or if it's cheaper for these people to end up in icu

No, but they can follow the current government guidelines of staying away from vulnerable people when symptomatic.

Of course you can't tell who is particularly vulnerable by looking, so that means keeping away from everyone. Which is a good thing, because no-one particularly wants another bout of whatever respirator virus you've got. Because we can't all afford time off work if we're amongst those who it gets badly, ot edures in to long covid.

What is needed is some basic consideration. Not "I'm all right jack" necrosecurity

Well then, as always, your problem is with the government, not people who have no choice but to work so they can pay their bills and feed their families.

Not everyone can afford to care about other people - people's priorities are always going to be with their immediate families as opposed to complete strangers.

@FuckeryOmbudsman that's ridiculous. I'm not going to stay away from people if I have a mild sniffle. If I'm too unwell to go out or go to work then I won't go. Other than that it's business as usual. I'm lucky I can wfh but if I had to physically go to work and didn't get paid if I didn't turn up then I'd go in unless I was literally bedbound because I need to pay the bills.

Vulnerable people unfortunately have to accept that unless they stay at home 24/7/365 they are inevitably going to come into contact with a covid positive person. Take steps to protect yourself and stay at home as far as possible. I can't think of anything else that's feasible.

I've got exactly the same OP, viral infection with cough and my taste and smell has totally gone. Just tested (out of interest more than anything) and it's negative.

Yes we still test. It's still vital to keep away from vulnerable people. My DH had it recently, but didn't feel too poorly. He could have gone to work quite easily, one of his colleagues is vulnerable.

It's not ridiculous, it's the current policy

Have you seen rates of respiratory disease hospital admissions in Europe (leading to return of mask mandates) and north America?

Even the not-particularly-vulnerable don't want to be missing work, or have the NHS stuffed to the gunnels (and unable to tackle the backlog). The guidelines make sense.

@FuckeryOmbudsman I don't know what the current guidelines are. I don't have any tests and I can't afford to keep buying them on an ongoing basis.

Yes there are a lot of respiratory diseases around at the moment because we were locked up for 2 years and didn't build up immunity to them.

I'm sure next year will be a bit more "normal".

We're a social species and will therefore socialise. I'm not restricting my life unless I am obviously ill with an infectious disease and even then I'm not going to be testing because I don't have any tests and I'm not particularly concerned what virus I might have.

I think it's socially responsible to at least be aware of the guidelines. I imagine you don't know and don't care.

The guidelines I meant aren't about testing.#

They're about the need for symptomatic people (including those who have not tested) to keep away from other people.

Because it's a major threat to the highly vulnerable, but also shit for anyone. Because people can't afford yet more time off, or have the inclination to risk long covid. But when you are unlucky and have a symptomatic respiratory illness, you need to keep away from people - avoid indoors contact, wear a mask, warn others and keep away from highly vulnerable people.

And I'm not joking about the strain the 'twindemic' - or even tripledemic - is already putting on health services in other countries. We might still have the chance to take the edge off it here, but only if people want to avoid stress on NHS (I suspect the government wants the exact opposite, and is therefore pushing the rhetoric of individual responsibility, when it really should know how inimical that is to public health)

I test twice a week as my employer requires - they provide me with the tests and it takes a minute. I can't see the issue. And if I test positive and I'll I'll, I have sick leave otherwise I work from home for a week or so. But I appreciate I'm lucky