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.

The testing system is a mess because we do not have the capacity to cope with our population. Not because people are getting tests when they dont need them

To properly stop the spread you need to be testing as many people as possible

What do people think oP should have done? Isolate for 14 days? Or just send him back to school?

I think covid has really bought out the absolute worst in some people. No critical thinking applied to any situation, just shouting the rules to make them feel better about themselves.

More likely you got it from your son

More likely you caught it from your son and your test was done too early.

@ineedaholidaynow

Isn't there a thing called COVID toes?

Yes, my relative had this along with another rash. This made them suspect covid, confirmed by antibody test.

We had Covid-19 as a family. My two youngest only had sore throats one with a low grade fever the other just the throat.

My husband went to a walk through test centre a couple of weeks ago but you needed an appointment.
A man had turned up without an appointment requesting a test and he wasnt wearing a mask. The man said his son had tested positive so he wanted a test.
The man doing the tests was shocked. Then his wife was also stood next to him without a mask and without an appointment.
The man doing the testing got annoyed and told them they should have been isolating and not gone for tests.
It turned out they had brought another 4 family members all without masks when they should have been isolating.
My husband was worried he would
get I'll because of how packed the place had been.
Luckily he was ok.
But i would avoid walk through test centres for this reason alone.

Just checked with dp and his was a tent but solid sides so even worse!!
And yes he did get a sore throat 5d later. Although i got one slightly earlier about a day then we both had a dry cough. I didnt go to the site though so luckily for us i think we genuinely caught what dc had. (Negative).
There is no way i would have gone inside myself though as i know you need to take mask off. Off dc only though.
Im not sure what i thought but im quite shocked anyone would think this is a good idea.

Why cant they do more postal ones or drive through.
I definitely wouldnt have booked if i had realised (though to be fair i booked drive anyway sigh).
I also think we had it in april. And this did seem similar as again no runny nose.

40% of under 18 year olds had a sore throat as one of the early symptoms of Covid and a rash has been widely reported as a side effect of the body's immune system trying to fight it.

The OP was right to get a test.

We are told to test for a high temperature yet 60% of all age groups who tested positive reported no fever/high temperature. It hardly appears at all in the 18-65 year old age group.

DishRanAwayWithTheSpoon but if everyone who has a sore throat or a rash takes themselves off to be tested then that’s one less test available for those with a continuous cough or who have actually been in contact with someone who has tested positive 🤷🏻‍♀️

Comefromaway So what do we do? Assume the govt guidelines for testing are flawed and just ignore them?!

If it helps stop the spread, then yes.

@Comefromaway
But it doesn't help stop spread. The capacity for testing is constrained (and not due to government incompetence as much as some like to protest, but rather because the necessary equipment doesn't exist to process more tests due to this being a new virus that requires testing on an unprecedented scale) meaning that the tests are used in the way that identifies the greatest percentage of cases given the level of testing available. If testing 100 people with sore throats would find an average of 1 case and testing 100 people with a high temperature would find 12 cases it clearly makes more sense to test those with a temperature at the expense of those with a sore throat.

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.

Exactly note her son had a sore throat and weird rash? Well kids get that but no fever or coughing, and takes him to a centre full of potential viruses and there are kids not just Covid. I’m done with these people that making things so much worse for everyone

60% of all age groups with covid did not get a temperature.

49% of people with covif had a sore throat.

Just a sore throat alone is not usually covid but a sore throat combined with another symptom (which a rash in children is) indicates a higher liklihood.

Only 38% of children under 18 have a cough.

Looking at the footage of walk-in test centres on the news it does look like madness, something likely to stress your body more and a big infection risk.

I have seen these walk-in sites on the TV news - queues of people coughing away all near each other. If you don't have Covid-19, it is the perfect place to catch it and a mask won't help once you are inside the tent and have to take it off. With that level of virus around, you could well have it entering through your eyes. And yes, clothes and skin.