Can you test positive before you have symptoms?

[MarcelineMissouri]

Just a question about track and trace really. It sounds like if you are contacted to say you’ve been in sustained proximity to someone who tested positive you are then required to isolate for 14 days.... Am I missing something? Why can’t you just be tested? If you’ve got it you’ve got it - it may take up to 14 days for symptoms to show but surely you must have the virus present, seeing as people are capable of spreading it during this time, so why can’t you just be sent for a test? Or even two tests to rule out the chance of a false negative? Surely that’s better than trying to force people to stay at home for 2 weeks when it might be completely unnecessary?

Am I missing something here?

The virus isn't present in sufficient quantity to be picked up immediately after transmission so a quick test is going to be of no use. What I don't understand however is having the rule as a blanket 14 days from the point you are asked to self isolate as in many cases the contact will have been several days ago by this point and 14 days simply won't be necessary as the incubation period has no respect for the length of time it takes to track contacts.

Even if they said wait 5 days and get tested surely that would be better.

The way incubation period can range up to 14 days, so not much point in testing those with no symptoms before 13th day since contact. It really wouldn’t shorten quarantine.

I thought part of the problem with cv though was that people catch the virus, have the virus and are asymptomatic for anything up to 14 days, but they still have the virus it just hasn’t manifested into symptoms. Isn’t that one of the reasons it spread so rapidly? That people are infectious but not showing symptoms? So wouldn’t they test positive?