If you've been vaccinated and do LFT two of three times a week, can you assume you don't have covid ?

[nonaomi]

Is it safe to say, you're quite safe if that's your situation ? Or your situation to be ? If the people you're seeing have also had two jabs and also do regular lateral flow tests ?

My instinctive reaction was no - because having the jabs doesn't stop you from carrying the virus,

There is now quite significant evidence that they cut transmission by at least two thirds, and potentially more.

@JassyRadlett 'clapping'

Yes this is what I've read too, it's not talked about enough! How amazing is that ?

It’s brilliant right! But so many people have taken the early message of ‘they may not prevent transmission, we don’t know yet’ as ‘they definitely don’t prevent transmission’ and are repeating it regardless of the evidence.

I'm happy to do anything, have jabs, take tests, wear a mask - if it means I can get a life back where I can go places and do stuff. If I can't go anywhere or do anything then it's not a life IMO.
This research suggests transmission is cut by half in the vaccinated, counting down to my second dose....
www.independent.co.uk/news/health/covid-vaccines-uk-spread-latest-b1816586.html

Some of the arguments on here are ridiculous and will only delay the return of normality, or ensure a third wave occurs.

When I was at kindergarten I stole a lego brick. I was caught and made to return it and didn't understand the problem - there were lots of bricks - nobody would miss one. I was then asked what would happen if EVERY kid took a lego brick home.... and I realised there'd be none left to play with....

This is the same lesson. Cases are low at the moment because restrictions have been imposed and the majority have followed the rules. Now we have low cases, people are saying, "Oh the risk is low so it won't matter if I break the rules".... Can't you see that if everyone does that, in no time at all, we're back to a high number of cases - already in some areas numbers are on the rise again. Do you WANT to spend the rest of 2021 with restrictions in place?

I managed to learn collective responsibility around the age of 5. It beggars belief that many grown adults seem incapable of grasping it.

@bookworm1632 I'm unsure which posts you are referring to in this thread. I don't have time to go through everything. I think there were a couple who said they'll see their vaccinated mums or whatever it was.

But my question was more general about ' if all the conditions are met- LFT plus two jabs '. Is it then finally safe to just hang out with your friends without being as worried ? Once we are allowed to do so. It wasn't really about the rules or breaking them. In month we can pretty much go back to normal in a lot of ways and in two months, potentially we will be completely back to normal. My question was aimed at a time when things are allowed.

@bookworm1632

We have to get to the point of everyone stealing a brick though in your analogy don't we?! It doesn't quite work. We have to get back to some thread of normality and lose our lockdown mentality at some point. That HAS to be the aim and discussions on when and how are valid.

@pommedeterre the thread was not about breaking rules, but it's now been made about that once again.

Boring.

@pommedeterre not by you by the way.

@bookworm1632 made it all about rule breaking, which was not what my questions were about.

I think a major consideration is whether or you think a friend with symptoms will get a pcr or self-isolate. I know a lot of people can't afford to do so or don't want to inconvenience friends and family with a call from Test and Trace.

PCR tests are not very good

www.bmj.com/content/371/bmj.m4848

www.bmj.com/content/371/bmj.m4469

and so on

@ForThePurposeOfTheTape ok so based on all that. You won't see your friends again, as it's not safe? Even after both vaccines ? And taking the ' terrible ' LFT? And having no symptoms of a cold ? Is it still not safe then ?

No

My household and I are low risk and have people round and go out.

Some people are assuming that the LFT are a good backup when it's a case of the government has bought millions of them and want to use them up.

There's always risk in life. When I go to the supermarket later I could pick up norovirus or whatever from touching stuff. It's a risk that I have to live with abs accept.

@ForThePurposeOfTheTape I get it, the tests are not perfect. But surely after two vaccines and the tests and making sure who you see isn't sick and neither are you, you can chill the fuck out and accept the small risk. Not you as in you. I just mean you as in ' one '.

I don't think it's logical to still worry about covid after all the conditions are met. And I'm very illogical and worried about it generally. But surely worrying about it even after those conditions are met is verging on insane ?

It depends what you call safe.

I saw a piece in the news about a flight from India to Hong Kong. Despite a requirement to have a negative test before they left, 50 ish passengers tested positive on arrival and a 14 day circuit breaker has been ordered.

@ForThePurposeOfTheTape I saw that as well.

So we should live in fear forever?

I think that some people are unaware how much we risk catching viruses in normal life. I'm not suggesting that people undergoing cancer treatment can be as chilled as the rest of us but some people assume that they have control over their environment when they don't really.

Surely at some point it becomes like any other risk that we don't even think twice about. Crossing the street and getting run over. Or contracting salmonella or the flu etc. It needs some perspective when conditions are met.

[quote nonaomi]@ForThePurposeOfTheTape I saw that as well.

So we should live in fear forever? [/quote]
My family and I are not at risk and don't have family abroad, work at transport hubs etc so we can afford not to worry about this. School is our biggest household risk factor and I accept that I may catch it that way.

@ForThePurposeOfTheTape do you accept that you're not going to be at high risk of spreading it or catching it, once you've had your vaccines ( if you haven't already ).

Some people need time to live with the risk. I remember feeling anxious about the supermarket shop last March but I quickly got used to things as I'm a single parent and have to do it.

The people who didn't go into shops for months obviously ended up with anxiety on a different level because they hadn't gone into shops. These people are probably still going as little as possible which will make them more nervous than someone like me who'd have no problem going daily.

[quote nonaomi]@pommedeterre not by you by the way.

@bookworm1632 made it all about rule breaking, which was not what my questions were about. [/quote]
I would take a vaccine (especially at second dose) and regular negative LFT as an indication to the level of probability I am happy with that I didn't have covid. Its not 100% but I feel as a population we have lost sight of the fact that nothing is...

To answer the ACTUAL question

@pommedeterre I would too ! I'm not sure why it stresses me out that some people think differently.

Must be my issue !

What you are not hearing is that vaccines are highly effective, but not 100%, and tests are very accurate, but not 100%. There is no 100% to be had.

When rates of infection are high, it is sensible to take additional measures such as masks and distancing. When rates of infection are very low, it makes sense to dispense with them because your risk of encountering someone who is infected and catching it and passing it on is already vanishingly small and , let's face it, those things are a pain.

Unless Covid is eradicated, there will always be a teeny tiny miniscule possibility of meeting someone you could catch it from. It just won't be worth doing anything about, until numbers start to rise.

The point of the vaccines is a) to protect the individual who has it and b) to drive down the rate of infection, so that we reach the point where we can abandon distancing. BUT WE ARE NOT THERE YET.

The point of LFD tests is to identify some asymptomatic people who would otherwise not be identified, so they can isolate and avoid passing it on.

In the US fully vaccinated people can socialise indoors with other fully vaccinated people without social distancing.

@nonaomi

I fully intend to do those things by the way. I find doing the tests quite reassuring, but most people in RL I know, think I'm mad.

Those tests have a bad reputation, but I think they're not as bad as people on here like to make out. There's been some new data that shows they're quite good.

They are more accurate the more you do them. The problem is as far as I can tell , is when people only do them as a one off. They are useless. The reason for that is that they don't pick up until there is sufficient viral load. So you may test at a time when you have caught it but there isn't enough virus to turn the LFT to positive. If you keep doing it then if you have enough viral load it will eventually turn positive. So you need to keep doing them.