I wonder if/when they will ditch isolation for infected people?

[november90]

Just thoughts on this really. Will we still be seeing people isolating in a year, 2 years time every time they catch Covid?

I think it's impossible to know at this early stage. Imo will depend on what proportion of infected people need hospital treatment, knowledge of how well (or not) vaccinated people with breakthrough infections transmit, new variants which might partially evade immunity etc. Maybe there will be a reliable test to show when you are no longer infectious?

It's going to have to end soon. They can't keep making perfectly fit people take ten days off work. I'm self employed, unless I'm dying, I have to be in work. I don't get paid otherwise and I cannot simply halt trading.

I don’t think isolation for a confirmed case will necessarily ever be dropped but testing will likely be dropped (next year?) which adds up to the same thing. We’ll probably just go back to testing severe cases and those needing hospitalisation.
Asymptomatic testing will the first to go but I guess they want to see how we cope in autumn/ winter first.

It’s going to be difficult to persuade some people to give up their LFTs though I reckon.

I think they will drop isolation for infected children very shortly - probably at the end of the month when LFTs are due to be reviewed / discontinued. Children will only be expected to be of school when they are too ill to attend, otherwise they will be in as normal.

It’s going to be difficult to persuade some people to give up their LFTs though I reckon.

Nope. They’ll charge them £30 for 7 tests or work places will have to foot the bill.

Won’t be long now.

They are going to have to continue offering the vaccination on a similar basis to the flu jab though, probably for many years. It seems unlikely this is going to go away, we're just going to have to live with it. Like flu. I wonder if masks in shops etc will become more common in the long term though, like they do in parts of Asia.

Surely this will depend on the variant? Right now the Delta variant is infecting the vaccinated and the risk to the NHS is clear. If the next variant is milder or is worse that will have an impact.

Is it any different than not going out if you have chicken pox until past the contagious stage? Assume similar if you have measles etc. Will it become a notifiable disease, until we build up a bit of immunity like we have for flu as that has been around for so many years?

People will gradually test less and less after this winter. It's likely that people will be permanently less comfortable with going to work with visible cold symptoms (regardless of what's causing it), however.

I agree with others, they will slowly phase out testing which will have a knock on effect at stopping isolation.

Eventually isolating will be added to the list of things which will be down to ‘personal responsibility’.

@BluebellsGreenbells

It’s going to be difficult to persuade some people to give up their LFTs though I reckon.

Nope. They’ll charge them £30 for 7 tests or work places will have to foot the bill.

Won’t be long now.

Don’t most people have about 6 boxes that have been forced into their hands at centres / pharmacies lying around at home??

Anyway I was thinking more of the obsession now with taking 4 LFTs, obsessing over invisible lines and taking another one rather then just getting a PCR.

Omg I hadn't even considered they would starting charging for LFT but you're right they SO will!!!

According to the winter plan the tests will continue to be free

Tests will be free otherwise the data will be meaningless. While we are in the pandemic the government is obliged to collect this data

It wouldn't make any sense to increase spread of the virus even further when the NHS is only just coping and the government has just announced booster jabs.

Honestly though you should always be off work if you have an infective disease - norovirus, chicken pox, flu etc. You shouldn't be coming to work

If you know you are infective you stay off work. Yes 10 days is a lot but it's better one person than they spread it all to the entire office.

I think with time LFT use will drop and therefore less asymptomatic cases will be known about. But if you have a known positive you shouldn't go into work, with any disease tbh especially one that has shut down the entire planet for 18 months

@PersonaNonGarter

Tests will be free otherwise the data will be meaningless. While we are in the pandemic the government is obliged to collect this data

Yes I don’t think testing will go until we are through this patch of A/W. I don’t know think we should until we have thrown 3rd doses and boosters at the problem personally. However, I don’t think LFT count officially towards our total tally do they because you are supposed to confirm via PCR? And it’s only relatively recently, half way at least into the pandemic, that LFT became freely available. We were not testing for asymptomatic carriers until 2021 so it’s plausible that we remove that capacity at some point.

Also this-

*Honestly though you should always be off work if you have an infective disease - norovirus, chicken pox, flu etc. You shouldn't be coming to work

If you know you are infective you stay off work. Yes 10 days is a lot but it's better one person than they spread it all to the entire office.*

I guess the thing is, we never normally tested for these things. I can tell you of a time when I think I had the flu but I don’t know if it was actually the flu or not. And it must be possible to have a very mild flu -say because you’ve been vaccinated or just because you’ve fought it off- and just pass it off as a cold. I guess there just will come a point where the same becomes true of Covid. I also think mandatory self isolation for a whole 10 days is crazy to keep long, long term.. say I have the flu, or what seems to be the flu, but I start to feel a bit better and get out of bed, surely it’s reasonable that I be allowed to take the dog for a 10 min walk?

May 2021?

I think testing and isolation for +ve cases will have to remain over winter, you surely couldn't have a situation where we had to have masks, wfh, vaccine passports but people with symptoms didn't test/isolate.

@CarrotSticks23

Honestly though you should always be off work if you have an infective disease - norovirus, chicken pox, flu etc. You shouldn't be coming to work

If you know you are infective you stay off work. Yes 10 days is a lot but it's better one person than they spread it all to the entire office.

I think with time LFT use will drop and therefore less asymptomatic cases will be known about. But if you have a known positive you shouldn't go into work, with any disease tbh especially one that has shut down the entire planet for 18 months

The only way that policy works is if there is decent sick pay. And no chance of being put on disciplinary measure for the time off.

People on ssp just can't afford to stay home every time they get a cold etc.

Isle of Man have announced that anyone who’s had a positive PCR test in the last 6 months and is two weeks past isolation, no longer have to have PCR tests to travel/return

Alberta in Canada were going to stop isolating cases but have scrapped the plan as ICU care is goimg to have to be triaged due to reaching capacity

I imagine medically unless we see a horrific new variant, it will be treated in the community like flu- where you aren’t tested unless you become very ill/ need hospitalisation and 0000s of cases go uncounted every year.

Socially, it follows therefore that we’ll absorb it into our cold and flu behaviours- crack on with it unless very ill, and just say “ive got a cold or flu or covid or something”, whinging to all who will listen, sneezing on one another at work, unless, like with flu, were bed ridden with it.

I imagine masks may be used in future more like they are Japan etc by individuals as a sign of social responsibility when feeling under the weather, or for protection when travelling etc. I think I’ll keep wearing them in crowded places in winter, for general cold and flu infection control as much as covid.