Lateral Flow Tests

[BloomingBlooms]

Sick of them. Hate them with a passion. And all that plastic waste worries me too. But unfortunately I can't see a point at which we won't have to do them. That's it really. Don't have much more to say on the topic, just venting. As you were.

Agree with all the plastic, though I supposed they've been produced as quickly as possible. Little things, like providing paper bags to put all the stuff in rather than plastic surely wouldn't hurt?

Aren't they meant to be shite anyway?

Do you have to use them (for work)?

They are so important though. My son had covid and we wouldn’t have known unless he did his LF test which we all do twice a week.

@palacegirl77

Do you have to use them (for work)?

Yes, twice a week.

I know they are necessary but I think it's the waste they generate that concerns me the most. I've reconciled myself to the fact that medicine is what it is today because of plastics but with vaccination rates being so high and cases (incl hospitalisations) so much lower now I'm wondering when we can stop or if we are stuck with them. If so what does that mean for the planet.

I agree OP. I can't wait to stop doing them, and hate how much plastic waste they generate.

I hate doing them too. Every now and again I'm tempted to stop but then I realise it's just laziness and it's an easy way to do my bit. Hate them with a passion though!

@ssd

Aren't they meant to be shite anyway?

Haha, yes. So unreliable and the amount of false positives increases as virus prevalence decreases.

Just done another one this evening and I remembered this thread. I still hate them.

So much single use plastic

They aren't 'useless'. They're not 100%, but they DO catch a lot of asymptomatic cases and that reduces transmission.

Nothing is 100% but everything we do reduces transmission, so it's all worth doing unless,of course, you'd rather go into a proper lockdown for a decent period of time?!

Yes, there's a lot of plastic involved, but we need to go for the safest option. Paper bags/cardboard are no more environmentally friendly and it has to be single use, so I'm not sure what people would rather it was made from?!

If there's something more environmentally friendly I'm sure they'll swap over to it once it's proven to be as good.