Why do some people get wound up if others test for covid?

[Adaytoday]

What is it about testing for covid specifically that seems to wind people up?
AIBU to find it really odd? People don’t seem to have the same reaction to any other test.

YABU - it is not odd to be wound up because another person does a covid test

YANBU - it is odd that some people get wound up because another person does a covid test

Can you still test? Just why would you? Is Covid worse than having flu? Not “wound up” just intrigued as to why saying “I’ve got Covid” is any more a reason to be unwell than I’ve “got flu”

What do you mean by being “wound up”.

Some people can start an argument in an empty room...

Do they get wound up? Or do they simply not believe that the person has tested?

I test for flu, too.

Same, because I and a lot of people are immunocompromised and having the test is important with hospital treatment.

for the OPs question, people want to memoryhole the pandemic and write Covid off as ‘all over’ the same way society did after the 1918 flu, it makes people sad and scared and they can’t have that so they get angry instead.

Because they never understood why anyone would test, even when Covid was at the pandemic stage. If they didn’t understand then, why would they now?

Fear, some are so fearful that if you test you must be a super spreader and you’ll end all of humanity. There are some very vulnerable people about.

I've been off sick this week, my workplace requires us to test. The kits do COVID, influenza A and B
15$ a pop though
They want to know what's spreading, how long to expect people out for , etc

Of course you can still test. Available at most pharmacies. You must know that surely ?

I’ve just had Covid and it knocked me on my arse for a couple of weeks and I’m still suffering another week later. Worse than any flu I had and definitely not just a cold. It circulated around our office extremely quickly and most people only had mild symptoms but they did pass it around.

I test as I’ve recently had cancer treatment and we have 2 other people in my office who are immunocompromised so it’s useful for us to know if we’ve caught it or at risk of catching it. We’re not OTT but If any staff knows they have Covid we ask them to wfh. Same as if they had norovirus or flu.

Another colleague who is not vulnerable but was having surgery this week worked from home too as they would not operate with Covid.

My manager who was burying her dad in the midst of it last week took extra precautions once she knew Covid was circulating as she didn’t want to risk being too sick to attend her own father’s funeral. She would have done the same with norovirus/ flu.

My partner tests as he works abroad frequently and he has to do a health check declaration thing for the country he’s back and forth to and it’s a country in the Middle East where they take these things very seriously.

No I don’t know or why would I have asked 🤣🤥🤥!

All these precautions, how would they differ if you had flu?

Surely sick is sick?

Flu or Covid?

What a waste of money, save it and buy paracetamol.

How does testing make you “better” at not spreading? Surely you’ll not “spread” anything if you’re sensible? Stay in if you’re ill, flu, Covid etc.

Didn’t know you could do that either, you see I don’t need to test, I act appropriately by not spreading if I’m unwell, don’t need a test to do that.

If it’s not hurting anyone, I struggle to see why people get worked up about what others do.

How?

A friend of mine recently announced she had covid and I was a bit confused as to how she knew as I did not know that you could still buy OTC tests. When she explained that she tested, my question was Why? Her family are all perfectly healthy and both her and her husband work FT from home. I don't understand why she needed to know. I wasn't "wound up" by her testing, just genuinely confused.

For all the talk of COVID being "like the flu", it's different in the sense that the flu is something that's been around since we've all been born. I'm in my 50's and wouldn't say I've ever caught it.

COVID seems to comes around every year or two and I guess some people have had it badly so worry more but what strikes me is how unpredictable the symptoms are.

I dont always do COVID test but do if I'm ill and spending time with elderly relatives - but I've still tested positive about 7 times already - the first one made my asthma permanently much worse. Twice I've lost all smell and taste for months. Other times I've just had a runny nose and watery eyes. Other times muscle pain and upset stomach or terrible insomnia. Colleagues have had it badly and ended up bedbound for 2 weeks or more.

I think people feel more comfortable with infections that are predictable. COVID is more unsettling because you don't know how it will affect you each time.

I think some people get frustrated because they see it as a pointless thing to do. It doesn’t affect them but it annoys them irrationally, like people who put their glasses on their head and can’t find them or stand rather than walk on a travelator if they can 😁

They likely wonder what people do if they test and don’t have Covid or the flu but feel horrendous i .e. what extra information do they have and how would they have acted differently in either case?

In @MarilynMerlot ’s example, they might question if the treatment outcome would truly be any different given that your symptoms could perhaps be even worse with negative tests? Or in @momager22 ’s examples would she go to work anyway and affect immunocompromised colleagues with negative tests? And if not, why test anyway?

Logically we know all these viruses target the respiratory system and that today, none is guaranteed to affect you “worse” than another. How an infection feels depends on the viral strain and your immune system. The Covid strain circulating now is different to that we had in 2020 which was much more virulent and infectious.

While I understand these facts and why some people might get worked up about it , I can’t say I do. There are many other things in life to get annoyed about! 😆

What was her answer?

With a combo test kit.

You sound like one of the people who get annoyed because other people test. It’s perfectly sensible to test for Covid because you then know what to expect. If I have a cold I know that I’m no longer infectious by the time I’ve got symptoms. If I’d got Covid I would stay indoors for a week.

I would definitely test for COVID if I thought I may have it as I like to know what’s wrong with me and what to expect. I’ve only had COVID once and it was like no other illness that I’ve ever had (very much worse with weird unnerving symptoms). I also feel as if I’ve never been the same since having it, as I now seem to have little immunity towards every virus going.

A lot of people I know still test but I’m not aware that anyone is critical of those of us that do.

However, comments on line in the tabloids such as the MOL certainly reflect the fact that some people do seem to get very angry about others testing, usually those who are skeptical about the whole existence of COVID and who like to minimise or deny its impact.

This is wrong, I’m afraid. With a cold (and any respiratory-affecting virus, including Covid) you are likely to be most infectious in the first few days of having symptoms. This is because the viral load is at its highest and the symptoms themselves cause shedding of virus particles, like sneezing, coughing etc.

Not the point of the thread but as someone with working knowledge in this field I couldn’t let it go, sorry! With these viruses you can be infectious before and after symptoms appear.

I do Covid tests and flu tests. if its Covid, i ask my doctor about Paxlovid or LaGevrio. For Flu I ask about an anitviral. Ive had flu 3 times in recent years, and when i took Tamiflu, it made the world of difference.

We're just much more careful if it's covid or flu as risk of more serious consequences, especially as DH and I both have some risk factors. If we have a bad cold we stay home/wash our hands a lot/etc. But covid or flu we isolate from everyone else in the family to the extent possible and stay that way until unlikely to be infectious even if we're feeling okay.

Probably because they then feel they need to announce to everyone they have it