Has anyone's Lateral flow test showed up a positive?

[JC17fj74]

Obviously it's good if it's negative, and so far all of mine that me and my husband have done have been negative.
Is the test reliable enough to pick up a positive if you had Covid?
Between me, DH and DS surely if either one of us had it it would pick us up?
I'm just looking for some reassurance really as DS has come home from nursery with a temperature and a cough.
But he has had an ear infection and cold this week so I'm thinking it's related to that.
He had a clear Lateral flow this morning but am I ok to trust that?

Me, dp and ds all had positive lateral flows

Sorry I meant to say has anyone's showed positive with symptoms 😊

LFTs are only to pick up asymptomatic infections. I'm afraid your son's symptoms warrant a PCR.

@JC17fj74

Sorry I meant to say has anyone's showed positive with symptoms 😊

We had symptoms but not the main ones at that point

Lateral flows can be positive when you have symptoms but they have a higher chance of false negative which is why you can't rely on a negative LFT and need to have a PCR when symptomatic.

You can't trust a negative LF test if you have symptoms. They are not as accurate so miss cases. They are only for non symptomatic testing.

You need to book a pcr and isolate until you get the results

With a temperature snd a cough he needs a PCR test. A lot of people are making the mistake of doing a LF test with symptoms. They are not accurate enough.
I know it's a ballache but you usually get the results in less than 24 hours

Thanks for the replies that's what I thought I have booked a PCR test for him.
I was just wondering really if you had symptoms I assumed the PCR would show up positive because if it shows up with no symptoms then surely it would show up if there were symptoms?!
Am I right in thinking that children only have to have a nostril swab?

I had a positive lateral flow test, I do them twice a week as I work in the NHS. I went off for a "proper" test and that was positive too - I had covid but with no symptoms at all so the lateral flow tests did stop me from spreading it about.

I assume you mean would the LF be more likely to be positive if your son actually does have covid, as he has symptoms? The answer is no. Symptoms aren't an indication of how infectious or how much virus somebody is carrying, so therefore a LF test could still be a false negative, symptoms or not.

Just nasal swab for ages 4 and under (that’s what we were told at our test yesterday) and our PCR results were back in 15 hours. Hope it’s negative for you.

We had symptoms and took a lateral flow while waiting for our PCR test to come back (just out of interest) and it was negative too.

It sounds unlikely your son has covid but you need a pcr to be sure.
Although lateral flows are supposed to be used for asymptomatic they probably will show up a positive if you’re symptomatic. But not definitely.