Lateral Flow Test was negative but I have symptoms- what to do?

[ArwenTheGreat]

I woke in the night feeling rubbish- felt hot/raging sore throat/cough- did a Lateral Flow Test this morning and it is negative, temperature was normal (I didn't check it in the night though so it may have been normal then, albeit I felt like it was raging). Children (x2) have had sore throats for a week but no other symptoms, eldest at secondary did a routine LFT last night and was negative.

They have trotted off to school quite happily but my sister has said that I should be booking a PCR test and that we should all be isolating til I get the all clear- as the LFT was negative do I need to do this?

Happy to if its required but I couldn't work out from the online guidance what to do in this situation.

Any advice/links to clear guidance v welcome!

@ArwenTheGreat

Thanks for your guidance all. I was not aware that LFT were not for those with symptoms. Have booked PCR and about to collect kids from school. (Single parent so nobody else to collect them.)

I hope you get a negative PCR and it's just a cold :)

Yeah I'd be getting a PCR sharpish. If you do have symptoms however and the LFT says negative I'd say likely the PCR will be negative. But you need to be sure. I've heard of people getting PCRs int he morning and the results coming back either that evening or very early the next morning. Fingers crossed.

PS LFTs definitely are likely to work if you have symptoms. But generally speaking are far less reliable than a PCR.

@Heartofstrings fingers crossed yours is negative, and that you feel OK

I have also booked PCR tests for the children as they say they have been coughing this morning at school. I haven't noticed it and they certainly aren't coughing now at home but we are all getting tested at the same time.

Thanks for the good wishes on this thread.

Wow

Omg 😳

Threads like this make me realise it’s never going away.

Tbf to the OP it isn’t at all surprising this confusion has arisen given the tests are designed to be used and were tested on symptomatic patients. Especially as some still have the manufacturer’s instructions with them that say to use if you have symptoms alongside instructions to say don’t use if you have symptoms.

I have received negative results back for all of us, I am surprised that they came through so quickly as I understood it could take a day or two.

So very grateful for our NHS, who deals wonderfully with people like me who have not sat glued to the TV or radio or social media and who therefore did not know all of the ins and outs. I have canvassed some friends about this and whilst most did know that PCR and LFD tests were for different scenarios, this wasn't universal. One of these who didn't know works for the NHS itself.

I don't use social media much and am not a TV watcher. Radio- sometime in the background for company but Radio 1 and Smooth FM do not tend to be big on detailed discussion of medical processes.

I had missed the specific requirement. I will not be the last I'm sure, but I'm very glad I was lucky and tested negative so I haven't put anyone else in danger.

@dementedpixie

Definitely get PCR tests as LFTs are for catching asymptomatic cases and are not sensitive enough for those with symptoms

Seriously this baffles me, how can more symptoms lead to less sensitive virus particles ??? Someone else on another thread was trying to tell me the more symptoms you got the more transmissible the virus their claim not mineyet here we have the more symptoms the less it gets picked up on a test. Something isn't making sense somewhere along the line

I just meant the tests themselves aren't as sensitive so aren't as good at picking up positive cases.

Glad you're all ok.

LFTs may pick up positive cases if you have symptoms but they have a high false negative rate so you cant rely on a negative LFT to say you don't have covid. You need a PCR test for a more reliable results

I believe you've a higher chance of a false negative with a LF so they don't want people with a higher rate of being positive to risk them. (Which doesn't make a huge amount of sense, either, but hey- ho.)

@Wellbythebloodyhell the bottom line is that LFT’s are pretty rubbish at picking up covid cases full stop. That’s why pcr is needed for symptomatic people to get an accurate result.

The fairly useless LFT’s might in reality pick up the odd case on both symptomatic and asymptomatic people. But the messaging can’t convey that LFT’s work a bit on people with symptoms, otherwise no one will ever choose pcr and the bloody pain of isolating.l the whole family. They’ll choose LFT, get a negative when they’re positive and carry on spreading the virus.

If LFT’s were any good we’d be relying on them as part of Boris’s moonshot plan.

@dementedpixie

Definitely get PCR tests as LFTs are for catching asymptomatic cases and are not sensitive enough for those with symptoms

The way I think about this is that LFTs are a (deeply imperfect, but what we have) quick way of screening a large number of people with no symptoms. The few positive cases that they will catch - their false negative rate is extremely high - are worth it because these people would not have tested otherwise and are 'extra' positives found.

However, for the relatively small - at a population level - number of people with symptoms, the slower but much more accurate PCR test is what should be used, because rather that 'screening' the population as a whole in order to find a few positives, you are carefully checking a much smaller number of symptomatic individuals to determine which of those have Covid.

LFTs, frankly, are little better than Covid theatre. But we have lots of them, so we might as well use them, just not where a false negative is a REALLY bad scenario (e.g. when someone has symptoms).

Bo demented. Its not about whether the lft pick up with or without symptoms.
It's that pcr are say 70% pick up positives
But lft only pick up 50%. If we miss 20% of the positives then obviously the r will be higher than it woud be.
And it would be very unfair to let
People with symptoms sit
next to unmasked people etc when it's missing half the positives.

Why are schools so reliant on lft then? Is it a case of they are better than nothing?

@ssd

Why are schools so reliant on lft then? Is it a case of they are better than nothing?

Yes. And Covid theatre - 90% of what we do in school is Covid theatre, because we cannot do any degree of social distancing (in primary, of 'hands, face, space, fresh air', we have...hands, as long as we are lucky and have running water and money for soap or sanitiser).

All the theatre makes it look to the parents as if schools are 'Covid safe'.

@ssd

Why are schools so reliant on lft then? Is it a case of they are better than nothing?

Basically yes , they aren’t 100% but what is . My dd tested positive no symptoms but felt off we all negative several days later dh tested positive too so they work as in my dd probably wouldn’t have known as didn’t have the symptoms. There are a few coughs and colds going about so it’s a bit worrying but best to get tested .

@ArwenTheGreat

I have received negative results back for all of us, I am surprised that they came through so quickly as I understood it could take a day or two.

So very grateful for our NHS, who deals wonderfully with people like me who have not sat glued to the TV or radio or social media and who therefore did not know all of the ins and outs. I have canvassed some friends about this and whilst most did know that PCR and LFD tests were for different scenarios, this wasn't universal. One of these who didn't know works for the NHS itself.

I don't use social media much and am not a TV watcher. Radio- sometime in the background for company but Radio 1 and Smooth FM do not tend to be big on detailed discussion of medical processes.

I had missed the specific requirement. I will not be the last I'm sure, but I'm very glad I was lucky and tested negative so I haven't put anyone else in danger.

I had Covid symptoms pretty bad, knew I contracted it! Tested negative but isolated with my family. I got another test on day15 as still symptomatic and about to come out of isolation, I tested positive. You & your family really do sound symptomatic. I would air on the side of caution & isolate.

Because we bought millions of the things. Having them sitting in warehouses is a waste of money. So using them as an extra line in the Covid armoury is probably better.

Better still might be to send them somewhere with limited PCR testing where a rapid LFT would at least be better than nothing.

I think using LFT’s as part of trying to convince parents that schools are safe, is backfiring. So many parents are now using them in place of a proper pcr test.

@Lemons1571

I think using LFT’s as part of trying to convince parents that schools are safe, is backfiring. So many parents are now using them in place of a proper pcr test.

But that isn't backfiring. The Government wants there to seem to be no cases in, or because of, schools (hence the whole story of 'schools being open' last term, while in fact many pupils in some areas were on their 3rd or 4th isolation) .

Parents choosing not to do an accurate test plays right into this narrative.

That’s why I’m wondering if it would be better to donate them elsewhere, Lemons. We’ve wasted enough money on dodgy PPE that getting rid of these to somewhere they might be helpful rather than undermining our pandemic plan might be better.