Covid - should tests still be available without cost?

[Happyspendingthedayinthegarden]

For context: I work for a team that is spread over a wide area across 3 counties. We WFH 40% of the time & travel into the nearest office to work there 60% of our time. Went to team meeting on Wednesday, hadn't seen my colleagues since Christmas &, of course, we were greeting each other with hugs, sat close to each other in an air conditioned room with no opening windows & went to a restaurant for lunch where we were sitting 'cheek by jowl'.

During the course of yesterday I started to feel really rough. I was cold, then hot, developed a sore throat & ended up finishing work early to go to bed as muscles were aching, I was running a temperature of 102.2F & had a dodgy stomach.

This morning I'm feeling REALLY rough. Then a round-robin team Whatsapp message from a colleague to say they've tested positive for covid. I've checked the symptoms & that's probably what I have.

Due to see DD & GC tomorrow - well had to cancel that.

I'm also due to take an 87 year old friend to a hospital appointment on Monday morning. I'm trying to contact her to cancel that. This leaves her in a hole as a/ she has no-one else to take her and b/she has dementia & could well forget that I've told her that I can't do it. I wrote on her calendar to expect me at 11:00am &, knowing how her calendar is her 'bible', she will look at that & wonder where I am. I will have to try to get her to scratch it from her calendar while I'm on the phone, but, since I have such a sore throat & rather croaky, not to mention cranky because I feel like 💩I'm not sure how patient I'm able to be with her.

If it's not covid I could manage my commitments, but, without knowing, I can't take the risk.

AINBU - cost-free covid tests should still be available
AIBU - we should pay for our own (which in practice means people don't have them in their houses in the same way as we did during the pandemic)

It is still a thing. I’ve just had it and I was really ill.

it’s the precautions and behaviour during the pandemic that isn’t a thing anymore.

What would you have done in 2019 or before if you had felt unwell?

COVID testing, isolating and lockdown wasn't specifically to stop the spread altogether, it was to slow it down so the NHS didn't get overwhelmed.

That issue has gone, so testing is not necessary. Just do what you would have done if COVID hadn't been a thing.

We will still get coughs, colds, fluey bugs etc, just as we always did.

YABU

They are cheap enough to buy and giving them away free is not necessary. It was ridiculous enough during the pandemic people ordering, stockpiling and jamming the sticks up their hooter every 2 minutes

Pack of 5 Covid tests on Amazon is £6.99

Home bargains they are a couple of quid.
but if you are ill I think which illness it is , is irrelevant

Why do you need to know the name of the infection you have?

Will you be able to treat it better if it was Covid opposed to influenza or adenovirus or any other viral infection.

Youre unwell you have symptoms avoid people who would be put at risk until you are well.

You don’t need to have a name for it.

Not true at all

No.

There are some people who need to know the brand of ill they are to access specific medication to help and testing is fair enough in those situations.

For the majority of people, knowing the brand of ill makes no difference. If I'm ill enough to affect my life, stay at home and cancel commitments, I'm taking myself out of situations to spread it anyway. I'll be taking cold/ flu remedies regardless. Knowing if it's a coronavirus, flu, rhinovirus etc makes no practical difference.

The reality is you've been higher risk of spreading before you even knew you were ill. 2020/21 proved that society can't cope with swathes of the population quarantining themselves at the slightest hint of respiritory symptoms, and we've never recovered from that disruption.

In one of the first conferences in March 2020, Chris Whitty said that the eventual outcome would be the illness becoming endemic i.e. just another widespread illness in society.

Indeed. Any such virus is a risk to a vulnerable person.

No, it was phenomenally expensive and we shouldn't still be paying that just so people know whether the thing preventing them from going out is covid or not. Nor am I up for subsidising the sort of person who'd have one up their nose at every sniff. There's still some free test provision for people with certain medical issues, which is as it should be, but not the rest of the population.

Just do as you'd have done in 2019, especially in cases where it makes no difference whether you're infectious with covid or something else.

i was surprised people were still testing until my parents were diagnosed with cancer this year and they have to do tests on treatment days. NHS does provide them. If I’m that ill I act accordingly so it doesn’t really matter if it’s covid or not. However in cancer it appears clinicians do differentiate between covid and a bad cold. Not sure why exactly but I’m assuming there’s a reason.

Just treat it like other illnesses and if you feel really ill, avoid people.

OP it’s 2025.

Hope that helps.

Yeah there are some clinical reasons why it might be recommended, which is fair enough in those cases.

How would you situation be any different if Covid tests were still free @Happyspendingthedayinthegarden ?

Yeah exactly this. It doesn't matter if you have a heavy cold or "covid". It doesn't matter what you call it, it's still not good to be spreading whatever it is to an elderly woman.

I don't understand what people find so difficult about this!

Why do people think Covid is the only dangerous virus? It could be Covid, it could also be flu, flu is dangerous to the vulnerable and flu tests are available to buy alongside covid ones. It could be RSV or another virus which could be dangerous to the vulnerable. Covid tests are a false sense of security, just because it’s not covid doesn’t mean you should go around spreading it. If you think you have a virus which could be dangerous to a vulnerable person stay away from vulnerable people! People got unwell from viruses and vulnerable people got unwell from viruses and died before Covid!!

I don’t think they should be, they’re cheap enough from Home Bargains! DP currently has Covid and feels the worst he’s felt. DM also has it and feels dreadful.

We had the tests left over but I will buy more in case the DC come down with it, then I can tell school what it actually is if they need to be off. I’m also just curious as to why I feel like crap.

Would you escort your friend if you continue to feel crappy but get a negative test?

You have a cold/virus.

Wash your hands, wear a mask and carry on if you feel fine.

If you’re poorly you can’t keep your commitments up, I don’t see what difference it really makes if it’s a cold or Covid at this stage.

Remember though that the lateral flow Covid tests are unreliable and that it's also possible to have Covid without having any symptoms. Do you still test before every visit, even when you feel 100% fit and well?

I still use the ones left over from the pandemic. They have expired but still seem accurate.

I live with an immunosuppressed adult as far as I know we still get them for free but have to fill out a form at the pharmacy. Nobody I know tests and we don't expect those feeling unwell to do so. We only do it as a household so that he can contact 111 and get some antivirals if he tests positive for it.