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.

Because you can’t expect to eliminate all risks in life. This type of thing is just dragging out all the fear unnecessarily.

B117 took hold before Christmas - we only started vaccinating in December. And what does that have to do with having the majority of the vulnerable vaccinated now?

My point is that we have to start learning to live with this. It should become like flu where we vaccinate the vulnerable groups each year and everyone else gets on with it. We don’t test for asymptomatic flu so we shouldn’t have to keep testing for this.

@bumbleymummy

"And what does that have to do with having the majority of the vulnerable vaccinated now?"
As explained by Chris Whitty in the press conference on 14/05, more transmissible variants such as the Indian variant mean that we will need to vaccinate a larger percentage of the population to prevent the NHS becoming overwhelmed. There are still a lot of people in the UK who are not fully vaccinated.

"It should become like flu where we vaccinate the vulnerable groups each year and everyone else gets on with it."
Unfortunately COVID is a different and more dangerous virus, so the strategy that we use to combat normal flu strains may not be enough to contain COVID deaths and hospitalisations.

Another wave is just a possibility of course -- but it is a real possibility that a new variant could plunge us back into a third wave and lockdown. Given that, I am very happy to take simple and easy steps such as LFT if it will reduce the risks of this happening again. I brush my teeth twice a day and that's much more hassle. 🤷‍♀️

@bumbleymummy but LFTs do exactly that - offer us a way to live with it.

Also you’ve said will this go on forever? The answer is until everyone has had 2 doses of the vaccine which really isn’t very long away!

@Whatshouldicallme and we’re still vaccinating. Also, recovery from infection also provides immunity. The ONS reported a high level of antibodies from both vaccination and infection and, as they also stated, antibodies below the threshold font necessity mean that the person isn’t immune either.

Yes, I know that flu is a different virus 🙄 IIRC it was Whitty who said we would need to live with it like flu and I don’t think the intention is to vaccinate everyone every year.

There will always be new variants - viruses mutate - I’m not going to live in fear of something that might happen.

@Peaplant20 but we don’t need them to live with it, that’s the point.

Everyone will not be vaccinated and then there will need to be ‘booster’ doses for the most vulnerable.

@bumbleymummy

"and we’re still vaccinating. Also, recovery from infection also provides immunity."
Yes, but SAGE and Whitty have said the level of immunity that we have as a population may not be enough to stop another wave right now. This is not my opinion, it's what they said in the press conference.

"IIRC it was Whitty who said we would need to live with it like flu"
Yes at the beginning of April he said we will eventually need to live with the virus in circulation and tolerate a certain level of annual hospitalisations and deaths. He didn't say we'd be able to get there by exactly the same strategy that we use with flu (eg vaccination only the vulnerable). Just two weeks ago it was at the press conference he discussed the modelling that showed that the number of people currently vaccinated may not be enough to keep deaths and hospitalisations at a low level, and in fact it could potentially rise to levels similar to the first and second waves in some scenarios. Again, this is not my opinion -- it is what he and Johnson said in the conference.

"I don’t think the intention is to vaccinate everyone every year"
Who knows. At this point it's still not really clear how we will get out of this. We don't know how long resistance to the virus is maintained after the vaccine or how quickly new variants that evade the vaccine may develop. No one knows at this point how often and what groups of people will need regular jabs to keep it under control.

"I’m not going to live in fear of something that might happen"
But this thread is not about living in fear, it's about doing something that takes less time than brushing your teeth to help reduce the risk of passing on a dangerous disease. And again, it's not just an arbitrary risk, it's one that just two weeks ago Johnson and Whitty said is a very realistic possibility.

‘May not be’

‘No one knows’

‘Possibility’

@bumbleymummy

Of course, but the first and second waves were just a possibility until they happened.

You probably wear your seatbelt even though getting into a crash is just a possibility. Is that living in fear or taking reasonable precautions for a risk that is worth mitigating if possible?

Every time a new strain is detected we get the same warnings and worst case scenario models.

The only way things will get back to normal is when people start behaving normally. Testing low risk people at a marquee 21st birthday for an illness that is incredibly unlikely to make them ill is not behaving normally.

Clearly we disagree. No point in going around in circles on it.

"The only way things will get back to normal is when people start behaving normally."
Things will go back to normal when we are consistently able to keep the virus at manageable levels. Behaving normally is not what will not make that happen.

I agree no point going round in circles 🤷‍♀️

We are keeping it at manageable levels.

Re the seatbelt analogy, I wear a seatbelt when I’m travelling in my car because I’m at risk then. I don’t go around wearing a seatbelt all day just in case I might want to get into a car at some point.

"We are keeping it at manageable levels."

We have only just come out of lockdown, there is still a global pandemic, there are still cases of COVID in the UK, and scientists are saying that new variants pose a risk to our route out of lockdown. In my mind there is still enough of a risk that we should still be taking some basic precautions. I suppose as you said, we will just have to agree to disagree! 🤷‍♀️

Yep!

I’d decline. Their choice to enforce but my choice not to put myself through an unpleasant test

Good idea. Easy way of weeding out the tossers.

It's a brilliant idea. We know, from this long year's experience, that the virus is passed most easily at social events, where people mix w/o social distancing, and alcohol might loosen inhibitions & relax behaviour. Also speaking loudly.

I celebrated my birthday on Saturday in a beer garden. I mentioned in the invite that I'd be taking a lateral flow in the morning in case others wanted to do the same. But I didn't enforce it and in my age group most have had a first dose and some of my friends are fully vaccinated.

@BarbarianMum

Good idea. Easy way of weeding out the tossers.

Yup. Happy to know who thinks they should be able to force a medical test on me as a condition of attending a party and weeding them out my life.

No, I would not be asking for tests. I had people at my house last summer with no tests. It wont be any different this time around.
I have a CEV friend who has told me she will tell me to fuck off if I asked any guests to take a LFT to come to a gathering at mine.

You can't know the household circumstances of everyone at the party so why not test?