Yes or No Answers Only. If regular asymptomatic testing is recommended for all adults will you test twice a week?

[GCSE2024]

No.

No, what kind of life is that? And no im not wierd or love lockdown like some of the judgemental posters on here seem to think. I want life back to normal and this won't help.

I do it twice a week already for work.

Why on Earth wouldn’t you? 🙄

No.

No.

As I will not be in the office until I have had the second dose of the vaccine.

@Justanticipating

No, what kind of life is that? And no im not wierd or love lockdown like some of the judgemental posters on here seem to think. I want life back to normal and this won't help.

It sounds like it would only be temporary whist we get back to normal. It will help if the majority of people do it as it will really cut down on the assymptomatic cases and help stop cases rising again. Everyone who wants normal life back as quickly as possible should do it.

@RaininSummer

In theory I will but I am quite anxious as I can't do it myself. I tried but had to go for an assisted one as I just couldn't stop myself gagging and choking with the swab down throat.

Could you just do the nose swab? Will make it less accurate but that's done for young children and it's better than nothing. If you really can't do the throat swab I'd do this.

@Thewiseoneincognito

I do it twice a week already for work.

Why on Earth wouldn’t you? 🙄

Can you really not use your imagination on this one?

False positives exist. Lots of people don't receive any form of sick pay and can't afford to be off work for 10 days. The self-employed are a key example of this.

Why would you, if you got no financial support, voluntarily do a test that could see you go 10 days with no income, and that could potentially result in you losing your business if that was a regular occurrence?

Yea have started now kids back at school as all parents and support bubbles with school age children in are advised to.

@sunflowersandbuttercups also positives on these tests are pretty rare, false negatives much more common. And if cases rise you are more likely to covid so more likely you'll have to isolate anyway, either from a close contact at work or because you have symptoms. So it's better in the long term if everyone tests regularly, because if cases are low there's much less chance of anyone having to isolate.

@Thewiseoneincognito

I do it twice a week already for work.

Why on Earth wouldn’t you? 🙄

Because it'll make absolutely no difference. The Welsh Government have ignored every indicator then got rid of them and are blaming the Kent variant despite it being shown not to be a big issue. We're still at level 4 and can only just buy a sodding towel in a supermarket. So no. I'm not sticking anything up my nose for Drakeford.

No I wouldn't. Firstly I hardly go anywhere at all, even in normal times. I literally go to my sons school (previously his nursery), and to my nail and eyebrow appointment once a fortnight. That’s it.
In the first lockdown I didn’t go anywhere at all from when it started until July when my son went back to nursery. Then when it was allowed I went to my appointment. The second lockdown obviously schools stayed open so I had to go out. This third lockdown I haven’t been out since Christmas Day (which was to my dads house and we are in a support bubble anyway so agaIn no mixing happened). I will not go anywhere until I have to take my son to school, then go to my appointment. I literally have not left the house at all even once during either of the full lockdowns.
Secondly the whole test is triggering for me. I was raped at 16 and I still remember sitting in the clinic having tests and swabs taken from everywhere like it was yesterday (was nearly 12 years ago now). As soon as I saw it I knew how much I’d struggle if I had to. Obviously if it was law then I’d do it, but while it’s not compulsory I will not. If I had to self isolate it’s literally no different from what I’ve been doing so would be absolutely no problem at all for me.

Yes. If it’s positive, I can get a PCR test very quickly, so it would only mean isolating for about 24 hours for a false positive. Apart from being the right thing to do in terms of public health, selfishly it’s worth it to me to try and keep the DC at school, without bubbles bursting.

Yes, but I'd worry about plastic waste and may stop as I go nowhere!

If it meant we Could go back to normal then yes

[quote Racoonworld]@sunflowersandbuttercups also positives on these tests are pretty rare, false negatives much more common. And if cases rise you are more likely to covid so more likely you'll have to isolate anyway, either from a close contact at work or because you have symptoms. So it's better in the long term if everyone tests regularly, because if cases are low there's much less chance of anyone having to isolate.[/quote]
I work alone and also work outdoors - I'm at extremely low risk of contracting COVID or passing it on to anyone. The only person I see indoors is DH, who also works alone.

It's all well and good saying false positives are rare, but I'm afraid I'm not going to voluntarily put myself in a position where I risk losing my business. I've already been hit really hard due to COVID - I can't afford to risk continuously having to close - my clients would just go elsewhere and I'd not get them back. They rely on me to care for their dogs so they can go to work. If I kept cancelling, they'd just find another dog walker and I'd be even more screwed. My earnings are already down 2/3 thanks to people going on furlough and not requiring me. I can't lose anymore money, especially when I get zero government support.

I suspect the vast majority of people willing to take these tests are those who are employed and who get sick pay, or who could work from home in the event of a positive test. Not everyone is so lucky.

yes, already am, as long as false positives can be cancelled out with a PCR. I live extremely close to a PCR testing site, assume I'm very lucky in that respect.

I work out of the home so it's a no brainer. DH otoh will struggle to be convinced to do so as WFH and other than for walks and bike rides barely goes anywhere, at least at the moment.

It might have been said but do those who are worried about false positives and the wait for pcr results affecting their income( I am very sympathetic by the way) isolate if their DC have temperatures or they themselves have symptoms?
I realise that I am lucky to have safe employment and to to have to weigh these things up but the poi t is not about the individual ; again it is about the population at large and protecting the economy from a further C19 wave.

@yikesanotherbooboo

It might have been said but do those who are worried about false positives and the wait for pcr results affecting their income( I am very sympathetic by the way) isolate if their DC have temperatures or they themselves have symptoms? I realise that I am lucky to have safe employment and to to have to weigh these things up but the poi t is not about the individual ; again it is about the population at large and protecting the economy from a further C19 wave.

Having symptoms is a whole different kettle of fish, in my opinion. If I had symptoms, I would test and isolate as required, but I'm not going to take tests when I'm not unwell and have no symptoms.

@yikesanotherbooboo

It might have been said but do those who are worried about false positives and the wait for pcr results affecting their income( I am very sympathetic by the way) isolate if their DC have temperatures or they themselves have symptoms? I realise that I am lucky to have safe employment and to to have to weigh these things up but the poi t is not about the individual ; again it is about the population at large and protecting the economy from a further C19 wave.

Yes, we test and isolate for symptoms.

And it’s all very well saying ‘it’s about protecting the population’, but would you be so altruistic if it meant not being able to pay your bills and put food on your table?

@AppleBlueBerryPie

Yes because you realise you won't have much of a choice right?

Writing from Austria where they tried mass voluntary testing after Christmas and that failed miserably. Then lockdown "ended" but in order to use virtually any service (hair salons, beauty, massage, doctor appointments), you have to present a test that's less than 48 hours old. Restaurants have also opened in a small part of the country and every guest needs to show negative tests for entry.

Home tests & saliva tests are not accepted and it needs to be one of the government's official nose/swab test stations with a written proof of infection status.

To be fair the free testing infrastructure is surprisingly good with convenient locations spread throughout all major cities. There are also rarely waiting times though you have to book your slot in advance. Vaccine status does not count for anything yet so I get tested once a week despite being fully vaccinated.

That is really interesting @AppleBlueBerryPie thank you for sharing that.

I would if necess. My two kids are now back at secondary school and testing twice a week (both ASD, one in tears - they say school has grey cardboard vomit pots lined up as so many kids are sick and the hygiene is awful there). Parents kits yet to be advised though.

Those that say no mostly have valid arguments but those saying that can’t keep taking time off how do you know it will be repeated? . If it’s a false positive a pcr test will confirm and it’s highly unlikely someone would repeatedly catch Covid every time they test . Why would you potentially want to spread this virus and put more people in the same situation as you ? .
Again it’s 10 days not 2 weeks isolation.

@TheOneWithTheBigNose

And it’s all very well saying ‘it’s about protecting the population’, but would you be so altruistic if it meant not being able to pay your bills and put food on your table?

No, if it were really that big of a problem to take isolation time of work then no I wouldn't., and I wouldn't blame people for that (although I still think it would be less financial hit if there is less covid around so less chance of needing to isolate). But all the more reason for those of us who have the money, or are able to take sick/isolation time off work, to test regularly to that a large proportion of the population is doing it.

Yes. A slight pita, but should help get life back to more normality and stop a lot of transmission in its tracks. I guess it needs to be affordable to isolate though which might put some people off. Having said that, I know someone who works with vulnerable people who refuses to do the test in case of a false positive (even though can back up with pcr). The real reason I think in her case is she doesn't want to know if she has it as would mean her kids miss more school. I suspect she's not alone. Ironically, she's also anti lockdown (so doesn't really stick to it) but won't take measures to help reduce spread. She's a "just flu" brigade...

Yes