DD had to have a lateral flow test to go to a 21st - would you ask for it?

[Bouledeneige]

DD was invited to go to a 21st during last week. I'm not sure on numbers but I think there were 12 of them there at a pub marquee. The hosts parents required her to take a lateral flow test today before going. They have no members of the family with vulnerable health conditions. She got some tests a few weeks ago from people giving them out in the street so it wasn't any extra bother.

Would you also request such a thing if it were your DC's 21st? I ask because my DD's 21st is in August and she plans to party in our garden - probably with similar numbers. It hadn't occurred to me to do something similar. I have been double jabbed and taken part in the Imperial antibodies research project which shows I'm positive for antibodies. The only other person who lives here out of uni term time is my DS.

@Bouledeneige

A lateral flow test is no more reliable than an antibody test.

Everyone one I know is double jabbed or a student so even if people did get infected it won't really matter. Will it?

A LFT is reliable if done twice a week, so a one off test is not particularly helpful, that’s true. However, YABU to say it wouldn’t matter if some became infected. They could pass the infection on, even if they have been double jabbed. I think your DD’s friends parents were entirely correct.

I'm doing LFT twice a week. Have been double jabbed and do an extra test if meeting friends or family just to be sure.

Run "A LFT is reliable if done twice a week, so a one off test is not particularly helpful, that’s true. "

This is the kind of statement that makes me wonder when science became mathematical modelling.

I think it is very sensible!

DD just sent me a screen shot of an email she got from her Uni-
apparently there has been a rise in student cases on her campus and they are to be vigilant and test if any symptoms!

I'd feel much better if I knew she was going to a gathering at a pub where everyone had been tested.

Wouldn’t do this no as it plays into the irrational fear people have over covid

I can’t imagine most people in their 20a would

I have teens in schools and don’t know any parents and teens who still so them - most sacked them off in the first two weeks

In my work we are offered lft and pcr every week and only 2/45 take up the offer

Yes, we asked people to do it before attending our wedding in April

@Bouledeneige

A lateral flow test is no more reliable than an antibody test.

Everyone one I know is double jabbed or a student so even if people did get infected it won't really matter. Will it?

Are you for real? It will matter if they pass it on to somebody who isn't double jabbed. This is why we still have a problem.

But the majority of the most vulnerable have been double jabbed. People who haven’t been vaccinated yet are most likely very low risk.

Really thoughtful and considerate thing to do

@bumbleymummy

But the majority of the most vulnerable have been double jabbed. People who haven’t been vaccinated yet are most likely very low risk.

We want to limit the spread of infection full stop. We don't want a vaccine escape variant.

Please refer

You may want that

That’s not gov guidelines

They just want to protect the nhs so people making new rules just complicating things

@bumbleymummy no they are not. Pregnant women and asthmatics are at higher risk but weren’t prioritised for the vaccine. That’s a lot of people.

Yes it could matter OP as you can still get covid if you have had the vaccine and then inadvertently pass it on to someone who is more vulnerable.

It's not true that everyone who is "vulnerable" has had the vaccine. I'm in my third trimester of pregnancy and only recently has the guidance changed to say we can have the vaccine but even then it's a difficult decision to make.

It's in everyone's interest to help slow the spread of the virus.

[quote Peaplant20]@bumbleymummy no they are not. Pregnant women and asthmatics are at higher risk but weren’t prioritised for the vaccine. That’s a lot of people.[/quote]
The people most likely to be hospitalised/die we’re prioritised by the JCVI.

“residents in a care home for older adults and their carers
all those 80 years of age and over and frontline health and social care workers
all those 75 years of age and over
all those 70 years of age and over and clinically extremely vulnerable individuals
all those 65 years of age and over
all individuals aged 16 years to 64 years with underlying health conditions which put them at higher risk of serious disease and mortality
all those 60 years of age and over
all those 55 years of age and over
all those 50 years of age and over

It is estimated that taken together, these groups represent around 99% of preventable mortality from COVID-19. “

And the majority of people in those 9 groups have been double jabbed now.

Were*

And people who can’t have the vaccine have to weigh up the risks themselves. They could come into contact with children, young people who haven’t yet been vaccinated, others who can’t be vaccinated and people who aren’t immune despite being vaccinated. There are no guarantees - even if all adults were vaccinated.

I’m double vaccinated and have been out over the weekend to indoor places so will take my weekly lateral flow before I go to the office later this week.

My D.C. are both at uni and do regular tests and do all my nieces and nephews who are secondary and college age, all would be happy and expect to do one before a party.

@bumbleymummy yes but you said that the people left to be vaccinated were most likely very low risk. Pregnant women over 28 weeks are critically vulnerable and asthmatics are not low risk. And neither were prioritised so to say the people left to be vaccinated are low risk is incorrect.

And the 55-60 age group have only just started to get the second vaccine so they aren’t double jabbed either, nor are all people with underlying health conditions (I have a close friend with an underlying health condition who has only had one vaccine for example). I’m just saying let’s not get ahead of ourselves as we are nearly there but not quite yet.

@Onthegrid

I’m double vaccinated and have been out over the weekend to indoor places so will take my weekly lateral flow before I go to the office later this week.

My D.C. are both at uni and do regular tests and do all my nieces and nephews who are secondary and college age, all would be happy and expect to do one before a party.

Do people check these tests?

I'd have no issue with doing this. Seems like a good idea, especially when it's a mainly unvaccinated group.

I do LFTs twice weekly for work. I also do them if meeting up with people, even more so if they are likely to be vulnerable. I did them before catching a train this weekend and will do one before going on a plane this coming weekend. Whilst away if I want to go to the nearby islands we are advised to take an lft first as well, so taking some with us.

Rightly or wrongly I would assume that someone who wasn't willing to do a test every so often before a biggish gathering like this are likely to be those also more likely to not follow guidelines. That's my experience anyway.

And of course they won't become a long term thing. They'll stop when the pandemic stops. Covid will be around forever I'd assume. Testing and self isolation like this won't be.

Horrible. The tests are not even accurate.
So what is the point? Just pointless virtue signalling.

Do people check these tests?

No, though you are supposed to report the result.
But they are very easy to do and the results are incredibly easy to read.
If someone is willing to do them regularly then they are less likely to be the type of person to ignore a positive result and not act on it. If they were the type who'd ignore a positive result they'd be more likely to just not do the test at all.

@bearandowl

Horrible. The tests are not even accurate. So what is the point? Just pointless virtue signalling.

The tests are accurate enough for this kind of purpose. They are more likely to pick up positive cases than not doing them at all. 🤷‍♀️

They pick up the definitely positive cases. They may miss some of the borderline cases, true.

Anyone with symptoms should be using a PCR. Also anyone testing positive on an LFT needs a PCRto confirm, but should,isolate whilst waiting for it to come back.

Just when I thought the Covid crazy Train had no more stops we have a thread like this one.

What is life if not for living? A bunch of 21 year olds who have had the early part of their adult lives trashed - relationship opportunities stalled, economic meltdown, career progression faltering - testing for an illness they are unlikely to catch (in my postcode area it has been months since ANY positive cases, and I'm sure mine is not unique) and even less likely to die from.

Cries of potential long Covid and killing granny are all very well, but a moot point when these same people are out driving, doing contact sports, traveling etc etc, all very regular activities no one one shrug at, but all with higher chance of injury and death than Covid.

I would love to know what sort of monster and boogeyman the unmasked and unvaxxed folk are in the minds of those who want these (or any routine test) done, and what sort of social division is springing up. Death is part of life, and the sooner everyone grasps that the better.

@StillCounting123 why is it crazy? It’s free and takes 2 minutes. There’s no harm in doing one and it’s not an inconvenience at all. It hardly makes life not worth living, I barely give it a second thought when I do them.