What happens at the end of isolating?

[SirVixofVixHall]

Dd2 finishes her ten days today, DH tomorrow. Dd1 and I have had several PCR tests most recently on Day 8 . We were negative.
DH is still feeling tired out and coughing but the temperature has gone. Is he really safe to be out tomorrow ? Do people need to do lateral flows to test if they are safe to mix or will they come up positive still as I have had conflicting advice on this ?
I very much want to meet a family member this week but don’t want to risk passing on Covid to them, can I assume by now that I won’t catch it ?
There is plenty of advice on isolating but nothing other than “go back to normal after ten days unless you have a temperature “ on returning to normal life. DH still sounds so rough !

Many people are still coughing and feeling tired after their self isolation period ends.

I felt suddenly much better but still did a LFT just to be sure. It was faint on my last day of self isolation and clear on the morning after.

When I had it recently track and trace told me I was free to go out if the only symptoms I had remaining were the cough or the loss of taste/smell. Anything like sneezing, temperature etc meant I would still be contagious. Although I’m sure he will be fine with the tiredness as that did take a while to subside.

Also in response to the lateral flow tests, I didn’t test negative until a few days after isolation ended. Dd tested negative on the old style white rectangle lateral flows before her isolation ended but still gets a very feint positive on the new style lateral flows (that you only put up your nose) after almost 2 months.

If DH still doesn’t feel well, then he should have another few days to recover, obviously if he can. Only you can decide whether to see family members this week, personally I would leave it another week, but that’s just me being extra careful.

feeling tired after their self isolation period ends

Almost everyone after a period of illness and restricted movement will feel tired. However, you are only able to leave isolation if your symptoms other than a continuing cough and lack of taste/smell are gone, so if you are still feeling unwell you should continue to isolate (and should almost certainly seek medical attention)

Guidance/law isn't clear of course as feeling unwell is such a loosely defined thing.

This is on.the NHS website @SirVixofVixHall.

When to stop self-isolating

You can stop self-isolating after the 10 days if either:

• you do not have any symptom
• you just have a cough or changes to your sense of smell or taste – these can last for weeks after the infection has gone

When to keep self-isolating

If you have a high temperature after the 10 days, or are feeling unwell, keep self-isolating and seek medical advice.

It is hard to quantify as he isn’t as ill as he was five days ago he has lost taste and smell but thinks there are little flashes of it returning, he is tired and coughing but an occasional cough, it isn’t a bad cough.
He has to take the dc to school tomorrow but he doesn’t have to get out of the car or see anyone for a few days .
We only have 1 LFT left as we haven’t been able to collect any more, I wonder if I should do it or not.
When can I consider myself out of the woods re incubation?

The seeing of the family member is really, really important and not something that can be moved to another time (too personal to explain) , that is why I am worrying.

@SirVixofVixHall just to let you know, whenever I’ve ordered new LFT’s directly off the government website they’ve arrived literally the next day. I’d put an order in now and hopefully you should get them quickly.

Oh thank you that is really helpful, I will check if that is possible where we are.
The ones we have came from the school but we can pick them up from the chemist I have been told, just haven’t wanted to go the chemist this week in case I was contagious.

Why are you doing tests?

You don't test to get out of isolation, you don't repeat a test until 90 days after a positive result

10 days is up I'd expect an adult be able to follow the info @Worriedmum40284 posted

Dd1 and I have done tests to see if we have caught it, as we have been in such close contact. Dd2 and DH have obviously not needed any more testing as they are positive.
I am obviously worried about this and the reasons are too distressing to put on here.

Also caughtinanet DH was told by track and trace that he only had to stay at home for longer if he had a high temperature. Hence the confusion. Did you intend to sound so unkind ?

I was told by both Test and Trace and the Covid Monitoring team that I could leave isolation after 10 days as long as I didn't have any of the following:

• temperature
• sneezing
• runny nose
• vomiting
• diarrhoea

They specifically said it was fine to leave isolation with a cough, which is good as I have been coughing for 5 weeks now. It's been 6 weeks since my positive test so this is fairly recent advice.

None of the HCPs I've seen for a kidney infection since my 10 days ended has said I still need to isolate due to fatigue, cough and feeling generally run down.

If I was you, I would

• order the lateral flow tests. Keep taking them daily for your peace of mind in the run up to seeing relation.
• if DH is still tired make sure he takes it easy not to risk post-viral exhaustion.
• if DH is still coughing leave him out of visit to relation. It might be ok in guidance but no-one wants to be next to someone who is coughing.
• Give your relation all the necessary info about your statuses and let them have the ability to say if it isn't in their comfort zone

@chillied

If I was you, I would

• order the lateral flow tests. Keep taking them daily for your peace of mind in the run up to seeing relation.
• if DH is still tired make sure he takes it easy not to risk post-viral exhaustion.
• if DH is still coughing leave him out of visit to relation. It might be ok in guidance but no-one wants to be next to someone who is coughing.
• Give your relation all the necessary info about your statuses and let them have the ability to say if it isn't in their comfort zone

Thank you, this is what we will do I think. There are additional factors which make it particularly important.

Also aside from the extremely traumatic reason why I am worrying about not being able to see the family member, I also have two seriously ill members of extended family, one we are awaiting a hospital call, the other critical in intensive care and unlikely to live .
So I am very stressed, not sleeping and finding it hard to think straight.

Sorry to hear that Vix. Hope this week goes OK. I'm sure you're ok to go and get some LFT tests from a pharmacy if you don't want to order them online

Thank you chillied dd2 is back in school tomorrow and has been completely fine all through but i felt anxious changing her sheets earlier as I am so worried that I might still catch it . I can get LFTs tomorrow, as I can go into the chemist.