Uni flat, Halls. Covid visitor.

[Miljea]

So, I thought I understood the whole contact/Covid thing.

But I don't.

Say someone came into your household 3 days ago who then messaged to say they'd tested positive, today.

Say you therefore were getting a postal test tomorrow.

Say that came back negative, in a couple of days' time.

Do you still have to isolate for 14 days? If so, why bother with the test?

All 100% asymptomatic in the household.

Why would you be getting a test?

Yes you still need to isolate because you could still develop symptoms after the negative test.

I thought you only got a Covid test if you had symptoms

Only 10% of the students testing positive at northumbria uni were symptomatic at the time of testing so universities are being super proactive with testing. Most of the result of us can't get a test unless we are symptomatic or we meet some other allocation.

Is this a private test? If asymptomatic you won’t be eligible for an NHS test just for being a contact. Plus like you say, even if it’s negative you still have to self isolate.

If you had close contact with the person who tested positive, you need to self isolate for 14 days. If you develop symptoms you then need to test.

The others in your household only need to self isolate if they were also in close contact with the positive case, or if one of you develop symptoms.

That was 770 students at northumbria uni, btw.

Say the test is negative, 3-4 days after contact. (NHS only tests staff up to 4 days post contact). How can someone who is asymptomatic, and who has tested negative, 4 days after exposure, be a Covid risk?

Genuine question.

3-4 days in, their antigen test is negative.

The 14 days is from the contact (not when you found out), and is because that's how long it takes to be sure that you haven't caught it and had an asymptomatic infection. Testing can't help with that, because some people can incubate it for many days but may not test positive in that time. So, all you can do is self isolate, & test if you get symptoms ; if you do get symptoms and test positive, you then only have to isolate for (I think) a further 7 days (there's a diagram online showing the timings) because that's how long it takes for virus shedding to subside.

No, it's not a private test. No one in the flat has any symptoms.

Ah. May have my answer.

I got ill with covid 10 days after being infected. Say I was infectious myself 3-4 days before symptoms. That would still be a week after exposure in which I would test negative.

I gather someone in the flat ordered the tests. No idea what criteria they used to get them.

This isn't on him!

chillies- how do you know how you would have tested 3-4 days in?

How many days post first symptom were you tested?

Genuine questions.