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)

Nor me. flu is just as deadly as covid if someone is clinically vulnerable. If you think you have either, try stay home if possible. If not, you can buy surgical masks on amazon prime.

But not as infectious.

So much aggressive stupidity on this thread tbh. ‘Why do you want to know’ why do you want to stay ignorant? Why is being against knowledge the hill you want to die on?

@ThatNimblePeerbecause unless I’m to I’ll to leave the house then it’s irrelevant what it wrong with me.
i have to carry on as normal .
work expects in in regardless of covid or not.
if we are well enough to work we go in !

I had cancer last year and this is news to me. Are you saying if your parents tested positive for Covid they would have been refused their treatment?

I think they put them in side rooms for chemo rather than a room of vulnerable patients. Hasn’t happened so far. Also tested before biopsy so I don’t know if that would have been delayed if they were positive.

That said, my friend’s mum has a similar cancer to my dad and being in different counties their experience is massively different.

As a clinically vulnerable person I don't want you near me if you have any symptoms of either . If you want to test, sure you can. I wouldn't bother doing it myself though.

The problem with lateral flow tests is that they are not always reliable.

So when they say negative you are given false reassurance and go out spreading germs. When in actual fact a pcr taken the same day could show up positive as it’s more accurate. Thus proving the lateral flow test is lying.

Let’s face it, if lateral flows were good a pcr test would never have been invented…

Why do people always want something for free. If you are ill you are ill. Just putting a label on it doesn’t really make a difference

No. Because absolutely nobody needs to know whether or not they have Covid. If you feel the need to test, just pay, as for every other unnecessary item.

It doesn’t matter whether it’s Covid or a nasty cold, when you’re sick it’s only right to stay away from vulnerable people regardless of what it is. I don’t see how knowing if it’s Covid makes any difference. A bad cold can be just as lethal to a vulnerable person as covid. Just stay at home till you’re better. Hope you are on the mend soon.

We have no home tests for flu so we don't need them for covid. Actually your elderly friend should be well immunised anyway

You can buy tests from a chemist. IIrrespective of whether it’s Covid, you are too unwell to take her to her appointment, and risk passing on the illness to someone who sounds vulnerable. So I think it’s wrong to say if you knew it wasn’t Covid you’d take her to her appointment.
The vaccination program has changed the effect of Covid on the population. It would be very expensive to make Covid tests free for all. That said those who are most at risk of serious illness could still become really unwell. The best policy is to stay at home if you’re unwell to recover and avoid passing it to others

So you will go and see someone with a horrible virus as long as it's not called Covid, if you are ill don't inflict yourself on them

My only argument for free tests is that I might have had one in the house a few months ago when I randomly had a racing heart rate and passed out repeatedly.. I was ambulance'd to hospital, had bucket loads of tests and scans, all of which showed absolutely nothing untoward (apart from the racing heart and dizziness, which were still a mystery).
Out of the blue, one of the doctors said "just going to do a Covid swab, just in case". Lo and behold, it was bloody Covid!
I felt like the worst ever time waster, and so guilty at all the tests etc that I'd had, just for what was essentially flu!

The last doctor actually just said
"Ah, panic over... It's just covid! OK, take paracetamol and drink lots for a few days" and that was it, I was discharged (relieved!) within half an hour!
If there were still free tests, I'd possibly have had one in the house and save wasting a day of precious NHS resource. But then, with only those symptoms, I might not have thought to test anyway.
At the end of the day, there's not enough money in the health service to afford essential end of life and surgical care, so free tests for a virus certainly isn't going to happen!

The nurse I talked to just said they only advise as per a heavy cold or flu these days. If you feel particularly crappy, stay home if you feel you're too ill to leave the house, hydrate, take paracetamol and look after yourself. It's just something we have to live with.

Ah it all starts to make sense! Nothing to do with Covid per se. Why don’t you work on that, your feeling that you have to justify being ill with something tangible and you still hearing your parents voice in your ear as an adult. I can relate to it, it was a badge of honour for my parents that they never called in sick and I’ve been into work so ill at times.

I think lots of people wouldn't bother testing even if they were free. They would probably just test when they get heavy duty symptoms, which is sometimes too late.

you can afford a test op
and if it wasnt covid, if it was a cold, you would not want to share this either

No, as it is considered the same as any other flu type illness now. I do have some tests, which I paid for, as I was due to see someone vulnerable and wanted to make sure my cold wasn’t anymore than that. Otherwise I probably wouldn’t bother testing, unless for curiosity. I’d do the same as you and self isolate for 5 days or so, but of course you don’t have to now. I know quite a few people who have had it recently, guess they are all testing still. But it’s fair enough if we want to know, we pay to test. The government can’t afford to fund it, and it would send the wrong message when we all needed to get back to normal post covid and they started charging.