To wonder why I’ve tested NEGATIVE for Covid twice but still have symptoms?

[ShirtyShirly]

And there being 5 people (DH/DC) within my household who have tested positive who I have obviously had a lot of close contact with? I have been isolating with them for a week now in a not very big house. Last test was done yesterday, on Day 6 and Day 4 after the other positive tests.

Covid is supposed to be highly infectious!

I have been having headaches, fatigue, dry throat, sneezing and a dry cough. What are the chances I picked up a common cold at the same time my family had Covid but didn’t pick that up?

That's weird - I wonder if you've had it previously and still have a good immunity to it so it's not showing on your test?

I don’t know but my husband is very similar. It’s a mystery.

Having said that, he doesn’t have the loss of taste and the jelly legs that the proper positive people have. So maybe it is just a cold.

False negative? Aren't they reasonably common.

That’s what I thought after the 1st negative Neolara but to get two? I thought false negatives were because testing was done to early which is why I deliberately left it a few days in between.

It's totally possible especially for an adult not to get it. Kids are known to not wash their hands enough, and are constantly touching stuff then touching their faces.
If you have been careful you can have managed not to catch it.

Weird

3 of the DC are adults Torvean and have pretty good hand hygiene. DH has too and we have obviously been swapping saliva and sleeping together before he tested positive.

Did you do the test yourself or did someone else do it on you?

Did the test wrong?

Haven't you got to test within a certain time period to get a positive result? Think it's within 3/4 days of catching it??
Perhaps that could be why?

There's a 30% chance of a false negative. So to get 2 false negatives wouldn't be impossible.

It happened to one of my NHS colleagues too in the first wave, classic Covid symptoms and also long Covid, after working directly with Covid patients.

There will still be usual non-covid ‘winter bugs’ going round I guess like they would any other winter. Does it feel different to a ‘usual’ bug?
Hope you get better soon!

I’m pretty sure I had a false negative. DH and DC 5yr positive. Me and DC 1 yr negative.

You will have been exposed. It’s highly contagious.

Does the result matter? You still need to isolate. Immunity afterwards is still an unknown.

It might take longer to show the infection on you go for another.

I'm the same OP my OH had/had it and I started with similar symptoms a few days later yet my test came back negative. I don't think I did it properly though not after reading somewhere it's meant to go further back into the nose than I put it

I know I did the test properly. I did two of the DCs in the same way. I haven’t got any tonsils but definitely got right back in there and right up high in the nose. I got sneezed/coughed on several times while doing the DCs!

If this was any other year, you'd assume you have a cold. All those viruses are still around. It's quite possible that's what you have.

The reported rate of false negatives is as low as 2% and as high as 37%

And sometimes it depends on the viral load you have - which can be different from the person who easily tested positive.

I've heard reports from others who tested 3-4 times negative and the positive.

I would take care of yourself as though you do have it - and take care not to pass it on to others outside your family.

A close friend of ours tested negative twice before testing positive. Definitely happens. And already had symptoms during all three tests

Same here op I'm the only one who tested positive out of 5 of us. Very strange.

We're moving this to the Coronavirus topic area now OP

False negatives are apparently relatively common. In your position I would assume I have it.

Did you go for a drive through test or test yourself? You could try a drive through.

At the drive through on Saturday though DS and DH still had to do theirs themselves.

If you are in a household full of COVID and you have symptoms then you have COVID. Some people dont secrete much virus and are hard to get a positive test from - the opposite of being a superspreader .