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Original poster

Should we start doing tests for everyone with cold symptoms now?

89 replies

PregnantGotCovid · 14/01/2021 20:42

I've been doing twice weekly lateral flow tests as I'm an hcp.

My test came back positive even though I had no Coronavirus symptoms. On the morning of the test, I had slight cold symptoms (sore throat and nasal congestion). Some of my colleagues have had similar experiences.

If I hadn't had a lateral flow test, I would have had no idea I had Coronavirus.

So is it time now to expand the general public testing criteria?

P.s. 4 days later, I still only have cold symptoms. Has anyone else started with cold symptoms and not developed into anything worse?

OP posts:
StatisticalSense · 16/01/2021 20:40

@inquietant
Well actually are testing system is flawed because too many tests are being wasted on completely asymptomatic health and care sector workers and care home residents meaning that even with the most testing of any country (per head of population) there are limited tests left for symptomatic testing and it is unrealistic to expand capacity much further. Only if the health and care sector would accept less regular testing would it be possible to introduce a wider criteria for the other tests.

Chimeraforce · 16/01/2021 20:44

Great idea if you like perpetual lockdown life.

MushMonster · 16/01/2021 20:47

If we do have capacity enough due to this fast kits, then of course yes.
If there is no capacity enough, then I think it could be counter productive, because it may lead to delays in the turn around of the tests.

StatisticalSense · 16/01/2021 20:48

There has to be a wider discussion as to why the UK is processing the most tests per head of population of any country despite having one of the narrowest sets of testing criteria. Either people are completely misusing tests in this country in a way that they aren't elsewhere (in which case they need to develop a system so that regular offenders are banned from the booking system) or we are using too many tests on routine testing at the expense of testing the symptomatic (in which case we need to roll it back in order to test more symptoms).

Fiddlersgreen · 17/01/2021 00:49

@2020inanutshell
Is is possible though that you have a cold and you have asymptomatic covid too?
Also, I didn’t think you were meant to get tested just because a household member tested positive? Were you told to get tested? Genuine question

GADDay · 17/01/2021 00:54

Where I live (not UK), we are urged to get a swab test with even the most minor of symptoms. For example if I had slight congestion I would go for a test and isolate until the result came back.

GADDay · 17/01/2021 00:58

This is an issue. If a household member here were to test positive the whole household would be isolated + immediate contacts of all householders + mass location based testing will be implemented in the "hotspots" i.e places a known infectious case has spent time such as shopping centre etc.

Having said that we had 1 case a few weeks ago and the entire region of 2m people was locked down 72 hours..

Amazing how it is being handled in different places.

inquietant · 17/01/2021 04:19

@StatisticalSense

There has to be a wider discussion as to why the UK is processing the most tests per head of population of any country despite having one of the narrowest sets of testing criteria. Either people are completely misusing tests in this country in a way that they aren't elsewhere (in which case they need to develop a system so that regular offenders are banned from the booking system) or we are using too many tests on routine testing at the expense of testing the symptomatic (in which case we need to roll it back in order to test more symptoms).
Agree with this but it won't happen.

UK Test & Trace has really failed - yes the headline number of tests is high but it isn't working to contain outbreaks, test turnaround is slow and we don't test the right people through limiting the symptoms.

I also wondered about comparative testing in other countries but it is quite hard to find much out.

£12bn to private companies for this rubbish, the NHS would have done it better Sad

inquietant · 17/01/2021 04:45

Thank you @GADDay. I managed to find numbers from other countries but not much comparative analysis, I guess researchers hadn't got to the point where they were reviewing. I might have another look.

inquietant · 17/01/2021 04:47

So stark seeing case numbers in the tens, not tens of thousands Sad

Well done Australia

Lifeispassingby · 17/01/2021 05:51

DH is a teacher and the parent of one of his pupils tested positive with no symptoms. She then tested her children and they were all positive with no real symptoms. DH is now isolating and has just woken up with a sore throat and headache (this is day 3 since last contact) now I’m wondering if he should get a test??

inquietant · 17/01/2021 05:53

@Lifeispassingby

DH is a teacher and the parent of one of his pupils tested positive with no symptoms. She then tested her children and they were all positive with no real symptoms. DH is now isolating and has just woken up with a sore throat and headache (this is day 3 since last contact) now I’m wondering if he should get a test??
Yes, if possible.
lovelemoncurd · 17/01/2021 05:59

I think people are living in a bubble if they don't think - sore throat, runny nose, sneezing- better get a Covid test. We are in among a highly infectious pandemic. Why would that not be everyone's first thought?!

Egghead68 · 17/01/2021 06:15

@lovelemoncurd

I think people are living in a bubble if they don't think - sore throat, runny nose, sneezing- better get a Covid test. We are in among a highly infectious pandemic. Why would that not be everyone's first thought?!
Well because the government is promoting a different message.
BusMum79 · 17/01/2021 06:48

DH and I were both pretty ill with Covid (diagnosed by gp as no tests) back in March. He had crazy fevers, we both had bad coughs, and I couldn’t taste or smell for months. He’s a key worker (nhs) so is back at work and I’m shielding as ECV. We have both had a slight sniffle, been sneezing more than usual and on Friday he started to cough a little / I had to use my asthma inhaler more than usual with a cough that was bothering me, but we both had really sore throats. We got tested yesterday morning - results just back; negative for me, positive for him. This is such a strange illness.

juliainthedeepwater · 17/01/2021 06:59

@lovelemoncurd

I think people are living in a bubble if they don't think - sore throat, runny nose, sneezing- better get a Covid test. We are in among a highly infectious pandemic. Why would that not be everyone's first thought?!
Plenty of people cannot afford to take time off work to get a test and isolate while they wait for the results even if they have one of the “official” Covid symptoms, let alone adding three far more generally common ones into the mix. This is a harsh and upsetting reality and I think one of the key reasons this country has had such an appalling pandemic compared to others.
SandysMam · 17/01/2021 07:13

Yes absolutely. Mine was cold symptoms, sneezing my head off and sore throat. I lied that I had a temperature to get a test. I didn’t at all but it was in our school and I just had a feeling. I honestly think this is one of the main reasons it has spread so far, the “oh it’s just a cold”.

Tumbleweed101 · 17/01/2021 07:16

My dd got a positive lateral flow test. She does them twice weekly for work. She had mild cold symptoms but nothing we’d have considered needing to test. She lost her taste and smell five days later. Potentially she’d have been passing it to everyone for five days before a testable symptom came up.

Bad headache and sore throat were both my dd’s early symptoms.

Benjispruce2 · 17/01/2021 09:37

@SandysMam my mil was exactly the same as you.

Benjispruce2 · 17/01/2021 09:39

@BusMum79 test again in a few days.

BusMum79 · 17/01/2021 09:42

@Benjispruce2 I will do. I haven’t left the house except for a brief evening walk around the block for weeks now.... no popping to supermarket even, so am sure he is the one who has been exposed to it as he sees patients every day

PuzzledObserver · 17/01/2021 09:42

DH and I both started with stuffy nose/sneezing for a couple of days before the cough. Got tested because of the cough - positive. If the message was to get tested with cold-like symptoms, we’d have been tested 2 days earlier.

Now, in our case it would have made bugger all difference because we are not mixing anyway. But for a lot of people, it would mean they were isolating a lot sooner.

Notmydaughteryoubitch · 17/01/2021 09:47

My local authority & the one I work for encourage you to get a "precautionary" test for headaches, sore throat, unusual tiredness and tummy upset in kids. So some LAs are taking more robust testing into their own hands.

WiseUpJanetWeiss · 17/01/2021 09:52

[quote StatisticalSense]@inquietant
Well actually are testing system is flawed because too many tests are being wasted on completely asymptomatic health and care sector workers and care home residents meaning that even with the most testing of any country (per head of population) there are limited tests left for symptomatic testing and it is unrealistic to expand capacity much further. Only if the health and care sector would accept less regular testing would it be possible to introduce a wider criteria for the other tests.[/quote]
Asymptomatic testing uses the screening lateral flow tests, not the diagnostic PCR tests. PCR capacity outstrips the demand now. There is a case to be made for widening the list of symptoms.