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Original poster

why hasn't the selta variant symptoms prompted a change in the requirements for a pcr test

28 replies

ladygindiva · 26/06/2021 08:42

just that really. Widely reported symptoms of delta variant are headache sore throat and runny nose (dd has these), yet to get a pcr test you need to declare you have lost taste/smell, persistent cough or temperature. Surely the symptoms should be updated? Obviously I've lied to get a pcr test .... seems odd I should have to.

OP posts:
Original poster
ladygindiva · 26/06/2021 08:43

obviously I mean DELTA , I'm just bad at typing.

OP posts:
JuneJustRains · 26/06/2021 08:44

I find ‘the Zoe app asked me to test’ usually does the trick.

The Zoe app is so hyper cautious that it sends you for a test if you blink.

IceCreamAndCandyfloss · 26/06/2021 08:45

I think they should have been and more widely publicised so people don’t go to school or work with those before testing,

ifonly4 · 26/06/2021 08:57

Absolutely agree. I've read about about these symptons more than once and heard on tv, but DH has managed to miss this so had no idea until I told him.

Daisiesarebeautiful · 26/06/2021 09:02

I don't think the symptoms have changed. I think it's summer cold season and people just happen to have colds/hayfever and test positive for covid. Same as back in December when everyone was saying cold symptoms were common among those who tested positive, it was winter bug season.
It's perfectly possible to have a cold and be asymptomatically positive for covid. Just my opinion and not too out there considering the vast majority of those who contact covid are asymptomatic.

Girlmama3 · 26/06/2021 09:02

I get the feeling he wants ‘freedom’ day so much he’d rather not release how many cases there really are.

Imagine the increase if everyone with a sniffle tested.

lonelyplanet · 26/06/2021 09:07

I agree the symptoms need updating, but they are now unfortunately similar to hay-fever or a common cold, so I suspect that's why it's not been advertised.

The website to book a test has changed. You can now get a test if you don't have symptoms but have been in close contact with a positive case. This is new and hasn't been advertised either.

Treehaus · 26/06/2021 09:09

That would be great news for the hay-fever sufferers.

baroqueandblue · 26/06/2021 09:28

@Daisiesarebeautiful did you actually read the two very different lists of symptoms in the OP? People who don't have a cough, loss of taste/smell and temperature are testing positive. They have headache, sore throat and runny nose, so they are mutually symptomatic of something that is likely to not be only hayfever/cold Hmm

OliveTree75 · 26/06/2021 09:32

I think they have always been symptoms of mild covid. When we had it in march, my ds had a very mild sore throat only, and i only had a runny nose and loss of smell.

Walkaround · 26/06/2021 10:35

It’s been known for a long time that the triad of covid symptoms recognised in this country is more often than not preceded by a sore throat and/or headache, and upset stomach in children. Snottiness seems more common with the Delta variant. Over 50% of staff and a lot of children in the school I work in tested positive for covid before Christmas last year and the snowball effect started with a supply teacher who came in with a sore throat. The other symptoms started a smidgeon over 48 hours later - late enough for the DfE to claim nobody else in the school should have to isolate, because the supply cover hadn’t been in the school for more than 48 hours before the “official” symptoms started.

GlassGlobe · 26/06/2021 10:57

I guess it’s because they can’t say that anyone with a runny nose needs to isolate and get a PCR test. But it does need rethinking as too many people are still saying “I need to lie to get a test” when they clearly have concerning symptoms

BogRollBOGOF · 26/06/2021 11:38

@GlassGlobe

I guess it’s because they can’t say that anyone with a runny nose needs to isolate and get a PCR test. But it does need rethinking as too many people are still saying “I need to lie to get a test” when they clearly have concerning symptoms
I'm not getting a PCR every time I've ended up passing by a hawthorn/ elderflower bush/ rapeseed field. I can feel the sinuses change in minutes just like they do every summer over the past 20 years.

If Covid is now indistinguishable from hayfever/ mild colds, in the face of the the vulnerable proportion now being protected as well as they'll ever be by vaccines, it's rapidly approaching time to stop with all the constant testing and contact isolations. Save testing for high risk environments like hospitals, care settings and international travel where it is more important to pick up cases and changes, and leave it optional for people in the community with specific concerns.

It always was a likely outcome that the virus would mutate to become milder and more prolific.

Missypuff30 · 26/06/2021 17:19

@lonelyplanet

I agree the symptoms need updating, but they are now unfortunately similar to hay-fever or a common cold, so I suspect that's why it's not been advertised.

The website to book a test has changed. You can now get a test if you don't have symptoms but have been in close contact with a positive case. This is new and hasn't been advertised either.

Thank you for pointing this out. I've been track & traced, currently isolating - developed sore throat, sneezing, runny nose & headache. All LFTs negative, but been debating lieing to get a PCR test to be sure - I've just ordered one by selecting that I've been in close contact with someone positive
BernadetteRostankowskiWolowitz · 26/06/2021 17:21

Has the Delta variant caused a rise in hospital admissions and deaths? Catching covid is surely less of a problem now that most adults are fully vaccinated?

lonelyplanet · 26/06/2021 18:03

The vaccines will definitely help but both are rising slowly - we'll have to wait and see. Hospital admissions follow a few weeks after cases rise and deaths a few weeks after that.

why hasn't the selta variant symptoms prompted a change in the requirements for a pcr test
palacegirl77 · 27/06/2021 16:30

@Girlmama3

I get the feeling he wants ‘freedom’ day so much he’d rather not release how many cases there really are.

Imagine the increase if everyone with a sniffle tested.

Imagine the case numbers if everyone without symptoms stopped being tested?
RocioMartinez · 27/06/2021 17:14

We have been advised by DCs schools to tick the box that says “been advised to by a health professional” or something like that.

Ipanemama · 27/06/2021 19:37

I’m wondering this. My 14 dd has complained about a sore throat today, she’s congested and now says it hurts to breathe.

Lateral flow test was negative.

NakedAttraction · 27/06/2021 19:51

@OliveTree75

I think they have always been symptoms of mild covid. When we had it in march, my ds had a very mild sore throat only, and i only had a runny nose and loss of smell.
This. Tim Spector has explained that at the moment we don’t know whether the symptoms of this variant are genuinely different, or whether it’s just that the majority of people catching it are younger (as unvaccinated) and the young always had these mild types of symptoms.
IceCreamAndCandyfloss · 27/06/2021 20:10

@Ipanemama

I’m wondering this. My 14 dd has complained about a sore throat today, she’s congested and now says it hurts to breathe.

Lateral flow test was negative.

Lateral flow aren’t meant for when someone has symptoms, you are meant to isolate a do a pcr test.
Original poster
ladygindiva · 27/06/2021 20:26

But a sore throat is not a symptom. Go on the cpr test booking saying you have a sore throat and you will be told you don't need a test. So what's she supposed to do?

OP posts:
Original poster
ladygindiva · 27/06/2021 20:29

Last comment directed at pp saying she needs a pcr test. I've heard this said many times, and to me a few weeks ago. You cannot get a cpr test without the temp / cough / loss of taste symptoms. You have to lie to get one. A sore throat does NOT count as symptomatic.

OP posts:
Ipanemama · 27/06/2021 20:36

But she doesn’t have any of the main symptoms. That’s my point Icecream

woodlands01 · 27/06/2021 21:00

I agree with what is being said about symptoms and PCR testing. However you can do a LFT test - most school aged kids are given them fir twice weekly testing and if not you can easily get one nowadays - I think you can pick them up from boots. That's what I did with my 20 year old who was unwell - I made her do one if my LFTs and it was positive so we could then book PCR