Do I have to self-isolate after a negative coronavirus test????

[grandehorizontale]

Ahhhh - last Thursday I had a slight contact with someone who on Friday fell ill with Corona symptoms. She was tested that day and on Saturday received the positive result. I had a test yesterday and was told it was negative. I have no symptoms. My question: do I have to now self-isolate until 14 days post my contact with the infected person? The guidelines seem to suggest that I have to self-isolate if the track and trace people contact me. The track and trace system seems not to work, so they are probably not going to contact me. Any help anyone? GH

The rules are pretty clear. If you spend more than 15 minutes with someone less than 2m apart and they test positive then you need to isolate for 14 days.

Any other scenario you do not need to isolate.

What's so hard to understand?

You aren't a close enough contact, so you don't need to isolate. You still might catch it, but it's fairly unlikely so just be alert in case you get any symptoms.

Testing negative doesn’t matter, it can take two weeks for symptoms to show, so you would need to test and test and test again.

That’s why you can’t just test and move on and quarantine is needed. So it doesn’t matter if you or the other hairdresser have tested negative. Your hairdresser may develop symptoms and only then the test would show positive. Your hairdresser needs to quarantine for two weeks too.

The OP doesn’t need to quarantine if she was only handed a drink by her. By that measure if Maureen on the till at Aldi got it every customer she gave change or a receipt to would need to isolate which is plainly not the case.

Yes, the hairdresser needs to quarantine, but unless the hairdresser tests positive or OP gets symptoms, the OP doesn't.

Close contact is defined as being within 2m of someone with no PPE for 15 mins face to face.

So no, handing someone a drink would not come under this. Just as well as the country would grind to a halt.

No need to self isolate OP. Especially as you have no symptoms and have tested negative.

And btw it's Test and Trace, not Track and Trace, which is a meaningless tautology. First they test someone, then if they are positive they trace their close contacts,

@AugustBreeze

But you would have been in the same indoor space as her for a while?

I thought in this scenario you would need to isolate? (The salon I sometimes go to is quite small though 🤷🏼‍♀️)

Why did you get tested? I don’t think you’re eligible for a test unless you have symptoms

Strictly speaking you should only get tested if you have potential symptoms or if advised by a health worker of some description, yes.

However it is possible to be tested without either of those criteria, and there is capacity, so I don't think it's a bad or wrong idea. Especially given that 40% of cases are asymptomatic.

This is me, my friend was diagnosed a week
ago, I’ve found very mixed messages to be honest.
111 didn’t seem that bothered I’d seen my friend but I asked for a test, they said if I’m negative I don’t isolate anymore however my friend spoke to tack and trace who contacted me a few days later, again they didn’t push for me to be tested but they say I have to isolate for 14 days
Queue my negative result and I’m told even with my negative result I isolate for 14 so that’s what I’m doing

If you’re a close contact, you have to isolate for the full 14 days. Testing is totally irrelevant because if the incubation period. That’s why you don’t need to be tested unless you have symptoms.

I thought hairdressers weren’t meant to be providing drinks etc?

@Alex50 there needs to be proper protocol in place for the cold and flu season. My kids get every cold going from October to March so I could potentially be off work isolating for 14 days every couple of weeks regardless of whether it’s
Just the common cold or not? Ridiculous, unrealistically and unsustainable

@AlaskaThunderfuckHiiiiiiiii it’s true. We are in MN land... we will see how many people phone their employer every time their child has a slight cough and so on. it’s just not possible.

@Backtobasics5 what’s worse is I work in already short staffed nhs community nursing! If you go off with symptoms but then test negative it’s back to work yet schools seem to be different

If you go off with symptoms but then test negative it’s back to work yet schools seem to be different

No, negative test when you’ve got symptoms means you’ve got something else. It’s when you’re quarantining because you’re a close contact of someone with proven Covid that you have to wait the full 14 days in case you’re incubating it.

This is explained here...
www.nhs.uk/conditions/coronavirus-covid-19/testing-and-tracing/what-your-test-result-means/

Should have said, negative test with symptoms means you can go back to work. That includes schools.

Its pathetic. How will teachers work with their own kids if they are taking time off constantly? Lots of people have a slight cough and so on. It’s absurd. Mean while in real life people have bills to pay.

Teachers jobs are quite safe compared to some other fields so they have become complacent. It’s time this nonsense ended.

Gov advice so far has always been about people you live with

Other contacts are via track and trace so unless they contacted me I wouldn’t be isolating

My workplace certainly wouldn’t accept this - it’s family or track n trace only (with proof) or we could all be swinging a lead the next six months

Just read gov advice and even if someone tests positive it’s onky their family and support bubble who isolate

Only those contacted by track n trace isolate so no you do not

[quote AlaskaThunderfuckHiiiiiiiii]@Backtobasics5 what’s worse is I work in already short staffed nhs community nursing! If you go off with symptoms but then test negative it’s back to work yet schools seem to be different[/quote]
No I think that’s the guidance. If you have symptoms and get a test but it’s negative you can go back as soon as you are well.

If you are a contact of a confirmed case and get a negative test you need to isolate for 14 days even if you have symptoms.

In the first case you don’t know if you’ve been in contact with someone with Covid but you’ve been tested and whatever you have probably isn’t covid.

In the second case you know you are a contact and that you could develop symptoms at any point in the next 14 days even though you’re current test is negative. Even if you are symptomatic and it isn’t covid, you could still develop covid within 14 days from your last contact.

It’s false tho that people on here decide if they’re a contact as that’s not gov advice or we all be isolating!

Contacts are family, family support bubble and anyone who track and trace contact you about - that’s it

Not joe bloggs who you met once in Aldi

Yes.

Yes if they tested positive you now have to self isolate for 14 days,

No she doesn’t you can’t just make up rules 🙈

If not family or track and trace then it’s no

As per gov advice