This is news to me! Households with children in primary and secondary are expected to perform two lateral flow tests at home each week ...

[justanotherneighinparadise]

is this common knowledge? I honestly had no idea. I knew secondary schools were going to do on site testing and that’s all I had heard.

My child’s primary mentioned yesterday to one of the parents that the expectation is that all the parents should be testing weekly and now we have literature from the local council saying the same. How has this completely passed me by?!!!

@JaninaDuszejko

You are only encouraged to do it twice a week - how many of there are you?

Seven tests is two tests a week for just three people, most households with children are larger than that. They should ask how many are in the household and send an appropriate amount based on that. Seven seems a bizarre and small number to have in a pack, why not 8 or 10 or 12? But mainly I'm shocked that a large town that has been doing community testing for months does not yet have LFT distribution.

I assume the 7 is because the plan is/was that if you are in contact with a positive person you don't need to stay off school as long as you test every morning.

(And these tests are only being made available to families as they have a stockpile they need to use up - is my guess).

[quote Northernsoulgirl45]@Mumdiva99 you can order a further pack a day later.[/quote]
Thanks. (Although husband isn't that bothered as he never really leaves the house....so if I do it we are pretty well covered.)

My dh is the same. I am just doing them fir peace of mind @Mumdiva99
Re the number of tests they are only for adults. Primary kids don't do them and secondary will be given their own supply after the first 3 in school.

I’m so fed up of hearing people say but it’s optional so I’m not doing it or I’m not bothering because they aren’t very accurate etc. The more of us who do this the more cases will be picked up, the safer schools will be and we can get back to normal quicker. The selfishness of people who just can’t be bothered drives me crazy. Every single person’s actions impact on others at the moment. The more we all pull together and do stuff like this despite the inconvenience, discomfort etc the more we can get a grip. My family have been so careful throughout this and have made so many sacrifices yet we are now at the mercy of the families of my daughter’s class mates some of whom can’t be bothered to do lateral flow tests, don’t believe in masks, aren’t following the rules etc yet their actions could lead to my family being seriously ill or worse. Me and my husband doing the lateral flow tests won’t benefit us personally but it will benefit my daughter’s class mates if we test positive and that’s why we are doing it, if only others would afford us the same protection!

We've been told we shouldn't ask for them online if we have the means to go and pick them up and can leave the house. And I do, but I'm WFH so I can't drive the 30 mins to centre to pick up on a weekday and it's unclear from the website I can pick up at the weekend - should I just drive over and see?

@Rainbowsandstorms

I’m so fed up of hearing people say but it’s optional so I’m not doing it or I’m not bothering because they aren’t very accurate etc. The more of us who do this the more cases will be picked up, the safer schools will be and we can get back to normal quicker. The selfishness of people who just can’t be bothered drives me crazy. Every single person’s actions impact on others at the moment. The more we all pull together and do stuff like this despite the inconvenience, discomfort etc the more we can get a grip. My family have been so careful throughout this and have made so many sacrifices yet we are now at the mercy of the families of my daughter’s class mates some of whom can’t be bothered to do lateral flow tests, don’t believe in masks, aren’t following the rules etc yet their actions could lead to my family being seriously ill or worse. Me and my husband doing the lateral flow tests won’t benefit us personally but it will benefit my daughter’s class mates if we test positive and that’s why we are doing it, if only others would afford us the same protection!

Totally agree with this. Honestly they take no time at all to do and they are free, why would people not want to do this?

And for those of you saying you are low risk - well you aren’t low risk if you have at least one child in primary school every day who isn’t being tested...part of the point is to pick up when the child has brought it home to you as well!

I read for primary parents but wasn't aware about secondary
Ds school have not sent us any details

It's not compulsory. We're doing them as Ds2 has severe autism and can't do the tests himself and it's a small sacrifice to make for him to be able to stay in school.

Yes Lottle, if you test positive on an LFT taken at school you can’t override it with a negative PCR (which is madness), but for the home testing that this thread is about, if you test positive you have to take a PCR to confirm it (so would be overridden by a negative).
Is that not because the test at school os witnessed and done by someone else who has been shown how to do
One done at home could of been done wrong, could be someone elses etc

Some saying no harm. Do bare in mind that if you get a positive lateral flow test and then a negative pcr test the whole household still has to isolate for 10 days....
How often do you get a false positive ?
And if done at home don't you have to go for the other test ?

@Rainbowsandstorms

I’m so fed up of hearing people say but it’s optional so I’m not doing it or I’m not bothering because they aren’t very accurate etc. The more of us who do this the more cases will be picked up, the safer schools will be and we can get back to normal quicker. The selfishness of people who just can’t be bothered drives me crazy. Every single person’s actions impact on others at the moment. The more we all pull together and do stuff like this despite the inconvenience, discomfort etc the more we can get a grip. My family have been so careful throughout this and have made so many sacrifices yet we are now at the mercy of the families of my daughter’s class mates some of whom can’t be bothered to do lateral flow tests, don’t believe in masks, aren’t following the rules etc yet their actions could lead to my family being seriously ill or worse. Me and my husband doing the lateral flow tests won’t benefit us personally but it will benefit my daughter’s class mates if we test positive and that’s why we are doing it, if only others would afford us the same protection!

This with bells on. It's so frustrating to hear some of the attitudes on here. I'm a TA and we're doing them twice a week at home now whereas before they were done in school. Yes it's a few minutes out of my time but we're doing it to keep our schools, staff, children and parents that little bit safer. It's extremely disappointing to hear parents can't be bothered to return the courtesy especially after all the insistence that schools must reopen. Well guess what? This will help them stay open. Do I have my doubts about their effectiveness? Yes of course. But it's one of the few things that we can do to reduce spread in schools. It's not that hard, isn't really time consuming, you don't have to do your throat if you gag and it's a small price to pay surely. Unless there's a good reason ie SEN or similar then I agree with others. It's selfish and inconsiderate.

Oh and for those worried about false positives, all our staff have been doing them for weeks and we've not had one positive yet, false or otherwise.

I want to do these, but the link school sent was useless. All the local ones for on-site LFT testing said ‘closed’. The two fairly local sites where you can pick up tests for home use said ‘school tests only’.

I gave up, until another mum shared the link for getting LFTs by post.

I agree its not been well publicised. The walk in testing centre near us is right next to playground luckily. We saw lots of parents with a packet of test kits.

DH and I are doing it, we both wfh but we have DS1 in reception and DS2 starting nursery next month, so both more likely to be asymptomatic and not social distance!

The two fairly local sites where you can pick up tests for home use said ‘school tests only’.

Aren’t these the ones you want?

When I went to pick some up no one even asked me what I wanted them for, no details at all. Just handed some over.

I don't understand why people are against them. Healthcare staff have been doing them for months without issue. You can't even set foot on my ward without a negative test. Everyone does it with no problem. It's actually quite reassuring to know that you don't have it.

It's actually quite reassuring to know that you don't have it.

This is absolutely not the case. You can have a negative LFT and still very much have covid. They are not very good at picking up cases and therefore if you are negative you should act as if you (and those around you) maybe have it.

Wow there are some selfish people on this thread.

I was doing the tests twice a week for work, and I got a positive when I was completely asymptomatic. Without the test, I would have been at work when I was infectious, seeing patients and my colleagues. I got symptoms a couple of days later.

Yes it's not the most pleasant task, but it's a minor inconvenience that will help stop the spread.

wow ,what confusion!

This really hasn't been well communicated has it?

@peridito

Can we please just try and be nicer. To be called selfish for having very valid reasons not to test is just awful. Not everyone that doesnt want the test is antimask, antivax or a conspiracy theorist. But (generally) concerned parents researching the information and making an informed decision based on their families own circumstances and the needs of their child. Looking after your child (and their mental health specifically) is not selfish. You also don't know the full circumstances (i.e. my 12 year old wont be having the tests IN SCHOOL but we have them at home through work and will test ourselves). Its not a one size fits all.

It’s voluntary but encouraged. Our primary sent an email saying they hoped parents would do it.

Families with primary age children are being asked to test the parents but not the children. Families with secondary age children are asked to test the secondary children.

You can collect 2 weeks worth of tests at a local centre, see here:

find-covid-19-rapid-test-sites.maps.test-and-trace.nhs.uk/ click on each centre to find its opening hours, some have slightly odd hours.

Or if you cannot collect, you can order by post:

www.gov.uk/order-coronavirus-rapid-lateral-flow-tests

The tests are easy to do at home. I can’t see why you wouldn’t do it. There is no shortage of tests so you don’t need to “save them for others”.

@NotOnMute

I want to do these, but the link school sent was useless. All the local ones for on-site LFT testing said ‘closed’. The two fairly local sites where you can pick up tests for home use said ‘school tests only’.

I gave up, until another mum shared the link for getting LFTs by post.

They will say “Closed” if you look at the map outside the centre’s opening hours.

If you click on the centre on the map, you will find its opening hours. The ones near us are all closed in the morning and then open 1.30-7pm.

And yes “school tests only” means the ones you want!!

I genuinely don't think I could convince my 6yo to let me swab her, based on past experiences of medical processes. And if I did, then what's the point when 3yo ds is heading out to preschool untested? Or do I need to test him twice a week too?! Covid rates in my town are marked with an * that apparently means they are too low to give a figure in case its identifying.