Covid positive

[Galwaygirl]

Would you go on holiday if covid positive, trying to settle an argument!

I am in the middle of chemo so obviously vulnerable. For me i would expect you to be considerate as with any illness.

If you were on a plane I would expect ill people to wear a mask (just the same as if you had a horrible cold) i would expect good hygiene. No snotty tissues. Handwashing anti bac etc

And to try to stay away as much as possible from those not in your immediate family

You're right that COVID can still cause serious illness, and apologies that my choice of words appeared to minimise that by suggesting that people would get better without it affecting their daily lives. My intention was to point out that COVID is established in our society now, rather than to trivialise it. Perhaps a better word choice would have been "commonplace".

The fact that it is endemic and frequently encountered makes it a more serious issue rather than a less serious one, but unfortunately for those who are particularly vulnerable to its effects, the widespread circulation of the virus and its relatively minor effect on most people who catch it does change the sorts of measures it's reasonable to expect the general public to take.

Comparing COVD to flu isn't intended to trivialise it, by the way. Flu is a serious illness that causes thousands of deaths every winter, often tens of thousands. It may be instructive to ask yourself why we don't expect people to routinely test for flu, though.

Let's say I have symptoms of a viral respiratory infection and for whatever reason, despite the lack of official advice, I choose to take a COVID test. The result is negative, because I actually have influenza. I'm really quite unwell at this point, but I'm reassured by the test result so I head out and infect several vulnerable people one of whom dies as a result. It would have been better if I had followed the advice and stayed home while I felt seriously unwell, avoiding contact with others as much as possible.

Because I was a fit and healthy person who lost my clinical career , hobbies and interests through long covid that I contracted long after all restrictions were lifted and we were back to normal.

I meet , at long covid clinic, people young and old who are worse than I am .

I could never forgive myself if my selfishness or negligence resulted in the same outcome for someone else.

So I buy kits , me, my family and all my friends and aquaintances test.

Just the same as when I had mumps and measles as an adult that I isolated , I isolate for the five days you are advised to on the government website ,

We don’t routinely test for flu because , on the whole, you are far too unwell to go out and about anyway, and flu testing is somewhat problematic and far less reliable than the covid test.

you are far more likely to get a false negative with a flu test.

The point with all illnesses is it’s not how well you feel , it’s what effect going into the population will have.

Most kids with chickenpox don’t feel too bad before their spots crust over but should you take a kid who feels well to a child play area with chickenpox when they feel ok?

Would you want the person cooking your food in a restaurant turning up to work having taken Imodium to control their infectious diarrhoea?

Would you want someone in childcare changing your babies nappy when , although they feel ok , they have impetigo?

It’s not illegal to do any of these things , but it doesn’t make it right .

We don’t routinely test for flu because , on the whole, you are far too unwell to go out and about anyway

That's absolutely not why we don't routinely test for flu. Asymptomatic flu is common. It's hard to get good data because we test so seldom, but when studies are done they often show rates as high as a third or more. And then not everyone who has symptoms is too unwell to go out either.

Can someone point me in the direction of these travel insurance policies that cover cancellation on the basis of a positive test alone? Because mine wouldn't.

I was mid trip in Canada earlier in the year when I got Covid. Only tested because tests were still free there and I was pretty sick. Even though I had travel insurance I was well enough to travel and needed to be at my next destination. Life goes on doesn’t it.

Sorry, by 'why would you test' I suppose I meant 'why would a typical person test'. It certainly sounds like you personally have strong reasons to be cautious. But those whose job it is to make these decisions don't consider that such caution is generally warranted.

It's at times like this that I wish we could still use 'one' as an impersonal pronoun in English without sounding daft, rather than resorting to generic 'you' and risking misunderstanding.

If you look at the US where they are far more interventionist , and flu testing is far more available they do not routinely test for flu because of the problems of accuracy in the rapid tests.

where it is important to diagnose lab tests are used.

However if you have flu and you are well enough to go out you will probably be beyond the infectious period . With Covid you can be infectious up to 10 days and there is a correlation between how infectious you are and the reaction to a covid test.

You cannot be responsible if you are an asymptomatic carrier of anything and don’t know it , however you can be a responsible and socially caring person by isolating when you know you are infectious with anything , from mumps to covid to tb.

I agree there are issues with testing accuracy, but that's another reason not to make claims about what flu infected peoppe can do. It's just plain wrong to say we don't routinely test for flu because on the whole you're far too ill to go out anyway. That isn't the reason why.

I don't personally see much point in comparing covid to flu, because they can both be anything between asymptomatic and fatal. But if we do, let's get it right.

Hello!
I said down thread that some of her colleagues were telling her to go and others were telling her not to.

I didn't really have an opinion, I was listening to both sides and decided to post for additional answers

Sorry but yes, if I had norovirus but was no longer vomiting/no longer felt unwell (but it had been less than 48 hours), I would absolutely still go. There is no way I would sacrifice the trip I had spent thousands on, booked the annual leave, the rest of the family doing the same.

Despite all the virtue signalling on here, in real life 99.9% of people would do the same.

Wouldn’t anyone else’s partner be anxious about catching those diseases en route to the holiday destination? Mine would.