Warning to anyone going for a test

[ohfucketty]

So, I took my ds on Wed for a Covid test as he had a sore throat and a weird rash.

Went to a walk-in site - was a marquee set up in a car park with a long queue. Everyone wearing masks, queue moving v slowly. When got inside the marquee, there were cubicles made with plastic curtains and everyone was given the equipment and sent off to a cubicle to do the tests ourselves. I got one too as they offered, although I'd had no symptoms.

Took ds over 10 goes to do the test, as he kept gagging on the throat one and touching it on other bits of his mouth, so we were in there about 15 mins at least, obviously not wearing masks while doing the tests.

We got negative results within 24 hours, BUT, this morning, 5 days after going for the test, I have now woken up with aching lungs, like nothing I've ever had. :(

Am now worried I caught Covid AT THE TEST CENTRE, despite using copious hand sanitiser and wearing a mask outside, as once inside the marquee, I was then standing in a small enclosed space where presumably hundreds of other potential Covid sufferers had also been standing recently, quite possibly coughing away without their masks on (as you can't do a test and keep your mask on).

As it was a marquee, it didn't feel like being in an enclosed space, but of course it was. Feel such an idiot, if I've actually caught Covid by going for a test.

So my warning is, if you do go for a test, I'd try to go for a drive through test, where I guess you do it in your own car (?) as this might be safer.

And if you do do a walk-in test, only take your mask off for the absolute minimum time, and change clothes/shower when you get back. :(

I can't face going for another test to find out if this is actually Covid - apart from anything else, don't feel up to standing in the cold for another hour. :( And would have to share a car with my dh, as I don't drive, and wouldn't want to risk giving it to him.

Oh, and just to add, to add to the shitness, I am 99% sure I had Covid back in March, as dh had all the classic symptoms and still has the long-tail form, with some shortness of breath/lung pain 6 months on, while I got way then with just losing my sense of smell/taste for a few weeks. (Neither of us got tested then, as at that point, you could only get tested if you turned blue.) I therefore assumed, that if I did get it again, I'd be OK. Bugger.

So don't assume that if you've had it before, you'll be fine. Obviously this may not be Covid. But buggered if I know what else it is, just random lung pain.

@Theradioison

15:10Devlesko

I hope you are better soon, OP, that's not good.
We're lucky our dc are 16 + and refusing the test, as are we.
Having a test makes no difference anyway, you catch it or you don't.

I'm not quite sure where to start with this

Say what now?

This has GOT to be a wind up 😂😂

There are also loads of odd symptoms with Covid some of which affect kids. But kids getting Covid in the first place is rare- look at the stats- and getting a rash is rare too. There have been some rare cases that have made the headlines of the Mail but in most cases all kids with Covid who suffered badly had underlying conditions- the stats on that were out not long ago and showed how rare it was.

I genuinely do not get why you had to do your own swabs- that's what people do for a home test and I know how hard it is as a friend had to do it. They also went to a centre for a test earlier this year and had the swab taken.

Asking you to do it yourself at a centre seems very strange.

In reality, if your son has suspected Covid you all need to isolate for 14 days so you getting a test as well was pointless because the rules you need to follow are the same if one person in a family is tested.

Sore throat and rash are symptoms in children.

@pontypridd Do you know better than the NHS guidelines for testing?

Even if some ( very very very few) kids get a sore throat and a rash it is very very rare, transmission from young kids to adults it rare, HENCE the fact it is NOT on the guidelines for testing.

I was then standing in a small enclosed space where presumably hundreds of other potential Covid sufferers had also been standing recently, quite possibly coughing away without their masks on (as you can't do a test and keep your mask on).

So you didn't actually stand next to anyone coughing away- they were only possibly coughing. And there was no one near you coughing. You just assumed there had been.

The test centre sounds chaotic from your account.

You would expect the medics to manage this and tell people to only take their masks off for a few seconds while the test was done AND presumably yours was off for a few seconds only AND if you were in a screened off cubicle, it sounds highly unlikely you caught anything.

Sore throat and rash are symptoms in children

Quite possibly but not as far as testing are concerned...they’re also a symptom of many other illnesses which is why the GP shouldn’t have been the first port of call

shouldn’t should be

Is there any need for the nastiness of some posters on this thread?

Over the six months of lockdown, there was conflicting information regarding the symptoms issued. It changes almost every week.

A cough? No, it has to be a CONTINUOUS cough! Over this time, loss of sense of smell has been added, rashes have been added along with other symptoms.

If I had a child with those symptoms, I would want a test so appropriate action could be taken, e.g. not going to school, not mixing with friends, etc. etc.

I don't know why people don't get a test through the post and return it the same day. Most of those that I know who have been tested have done that. It beats queuing up and being in a confined space.

If you believe you had Covid-19 earlier in the year (and it sounds as though you did if you lost sense of taste and smell), I doubt you would have it again so quickly. You may of course have caught another type of infection.

I do hope you feel better soon.

@Devlesko

I hope you are better soon, OP, that's not good. We're lucky our dc are 16 + and refusing the test, as are we. Having a test makes no difference anyway, you catch it or you don't.

I need to stop reading this.

We have an OP who
A. Got her child a test, despite her child not exhibiting one of the three key symptoms
B. Got a test for herself at the test centre, despite not exhibiting one of the three key symptoms
C. Is now not going to get herself tested, despite believing she now has contracted the virus

And D. People posting that they refuse to be tested because “it makes no difference”.

I’m out.

Why would you think a mask would protect you? They don't, just reduce risk of you infecting others by about 6%. Did the mask make you feel safe and you were close to people? Hope you feel better soon.

I just spoke very briefly with my neighbour over the fence. I was mowing the lawn and we had a brief chat. He mentioned he had a cough, that started today. I asked if he was going to book a test and he said "you need symptoms for that" I said a cough was a symptom (I was glad we were 2m apart!!) and he said "no, I'm just taking tablets, I'm going to beat it"
(Hes in his 80s.)

“You can get a free NHS test if:
+you have any symptoms of coronavirus (a high temperature, a new, continuous cough or a loss or change to your sense of smell or taste)
+you're getting a test for someone you live with who has symptoms
+you live in England and have been told to get a test before you go into hospital, for example, for surgery
+your local council asks you to get a test
+you're taking part in a government pilot project“

www.nhs.uk/conditions/coronavirus-covid-19/testing-and-tracing/get-a-test-to-check-if-you-have-coronavirus/

These are the only reasons you can get a test

I feel for you OP. This is exactly why I refused to have an appointment in anything other than a drive-through (I was fortunate, this was just before the backlog and I had a woman on the phone who was an angel and completely understood where I was coming from, as I had a 2nd child without symptoms who would have to come with us and I just needed him to remain in the car). The drive-through was amazing actually - don't have a bad word to say about it

Self testing is normal I believe.

Certainly that was the case at the drive in test centre I went to.

Most Drive in centres have 2 options- 1 to self-test using a kit with instructions given to you or you can opt for having a swab taken by a trained tester. The official government view is that there should be no difference in outcome between the two.
Walk-in centres are all self-test only I believe.

At my kids’ school parents have been told to get their child tested if they have any of these symptoms: sore throat, temperature, cough, stomach problems, and change in sense of taste and smell.

I can understand why - two years groups are currently at home for 14 days, the positive kids have passed COVID on to a sibling in another year, and that person has school kid contacts with symptoms.

It’s one big mess.

@Devlesko would you at least self isolate if you have symptoms?

Actually I read in yesterday's Guardian that research shows Covid presents in many different ways, including: sore throat, rash especially on fingers and toes, stomach upsets including vomiting etc. as well as the ones we are more familiar with. So all those criticising the OP for taking her child to be tested are at best misguided. The OP is unwell and anxious so why be mean? OP, I hope your worries are unnecessary and you get well soon.

I don't know why people persist in saying the child had no symptoms. He clearly did. Yes, those symptoms could be indicative of numerous illnesses but those posters who think she should keep him off school for two weeks instead of testing must be made of money. Or just not care how much school their kids could potentially miss if they stay home every time they get a sore throat. The school will send them home and not allow them back without a negative test.

OP, If you have strange lung chest pains please call 111. How do you know it’s your lungs and not your heart? Women sometimes don’t have the classic heart attack symptoms and any chest pains should be investigated.

@StatisticalSense

So you took him for a test despite him not having the required symptoms and have now developed different symptoms that are also not cause for a Covid test and are only not getting tested because it is too inconvenient? People like you are exactly why the testing situation is in a mess.

Oh get lost, our useless government are the reason why the testing system is such a mess.

Why so much nastiness? IF I needed a covid test this kind of pitch forking would remind me to keep my mouth shut about it and quietly self isolate awaiting the results. I would tell school and employers and no one else.

In fear of

• half of people accusing me of killing people by getting a very highly infectious virus I didnt create

• the other half thinking I should waste a test in case THEY MIGHT NEED it in the future

No one, would be thinking "oh dear poor Lego, this nasty virus is certainly doing the rounds"

How many people seriously think that people are choosing to get this virus? What is the point of the Zoe app if people are rageing against it? Do you honestly think people help with research because they are selfish?

I literally despair sometimes of posters on MN attitude to testing

Sore throat and rash are relatively common covid symptoms in children

The whole point of testing is to prevent people with covid not isolating, nd spreading their covid

So if Op DS has potential covid - which he does because he has 2 common symptoms in children, then he either needs to be isolating or testing. Because the alternative is he is potentially spreading covid.

If we want to stop the spread we cannot have cases in public, we need to be isolating as many cases as possible. Ideally all cases.

Isn't there a thing called COVID toes?