To be sick of people relying on lateral flows when sick.

[kakeya97]

It's been widely said that lft tests aren't accurate and many people are ill with symptoms and been negative on a Lft but positive on a pcr.

A parent at the school picking up today says they sick with a cough and fever but had done a lateral flow... distances from said person

I believe they give people a false sense of reassurance even though it's widely stated they are for asymptomatic testing either.

Dd was poorly a short while and we took her for a pcr which was negative. After telling mil she said why didn't wr go over there for a lft she had in the cupboard. I explained that she had symptoms (cough) and needed a pcr but I don't think she took it in. Said the tests were very good because they have 'nhs' written on them. I gave up trying to explain.

Another friend has bad cold symptoms. Likely just a cold but has relied on lft tests.

I just don't what people don't understand about it - if you have any of the symptoms of covid - get a pcr test. The results are coming back so fast. I know lft tests seem convenient as they are rapid - but rapid means unreliable.

@kakeya97

I wasn't really talking about when people have cold symptoms. I've known people to have fevers (adults don't tend to get a fever with w cold), very bad coughs etc etc and just relied on a lateral flow.

Say a lateral flow gives a false negative, you go to work, school, shopping or what not and spread it to other people who will then need to get a test?!

Yes waiting for pcr results are annoying. But I'm just fed up of people thinking lfts are the answer when they really aren't.... it would be amazing if they were reliable wouldn't it - rapid testing etc but they really aren't!

The thing is @kakeya97 our kids' schools ask us to test from the wider list of symptoms, largely as the Delta is not presenting (in children and in a lot the adults I know who've caught it from their kids) with the 'original' list of symptoms. So we're being told to test for sniffles, upset stomachs, the lot. Hence my point: we'd never be in school/work as we have to go for a test on day 1, wait, and then decide the next day whether it's worth going into school/work or not.

For example, my DC had a negative LFT this morning, but does have some of the wider symptoms. Managed to get a PCR booked for Midday. No results yet. If we get them by 7.30am he'll be in school (if negative). But if they take 24 hours then it'll be Midday ... and DC finishes school at 2pm. So that = 2 days off.

It's not quite so simple as you might think, though I do get your frustration.

I get the frustration but if everyone who's experiencing possible delta symptoms were to book a PCR every time they sneezed the system would be overwhelmed and we'd all be waiting days for test results to come back. LFTs might not be totally reliable but they aren't completely useless either and do pick up a lot of cases - even in symptomatic cases. There was an Oxford University study published in July which is an interesting read on this - they found LFTs to have similar accuracy to PCRs www.ox.ac.uk/news/2021-07-14-lateral-flow-tests-are-95-effective-detecting-covid-19-when-used-onset-symptoms - I'm sure many will dispute thus but it does seem people have written LFTs off when they're a valuable resource when it comes to us learning to live with this virus and getting on with our lives without constant and often unnecessary disruption. It's obviously about balancing the risk though obviously - and therein lies the real challenge!!

I get the frustration but if everyone who's experiencing possible delta symptoms were to book a PCR every time they sneezed the system would be overwhelmed and we'd all be waiting days for test results to come back

I had a cold and a cough last week and booked a PCR. The guy at the walk through practically told me off for wasting their time booking it, probably because I didn't look at deaths door and just said I had a cough and a cold.

I'm sure many will dispute thus but it does seem people have written LFTs off when they're a valuable resource when it comes to us learning to live with this virus and getting on with our lives without constant and often unnecessary disruption

Ideally you'd get a PCR test but as you say if everyone did then the system couldn't cope and it's also 2 days off work/school. One day while you have the test and another while you wait for the result (possibly longer if it takes over 24 hours).

LFT's are practical.

It actually states you are to only get a pcr test if you have any of the 3 main symptoms.
It’s crazy... DS felt sick on Friday and came home from school early, by late evening he was perfect fine, no throwing up...
We had to do a lft test to prove the school... he’s autistic and you can imagine the meltdown caused. So unless he has one of the 3 symptoms listed he won’t be doing tests..

I agree OP but after having trouble getting a PCR appointment then waiting over 24 hours for the result I can see why people aren't bothering. DS missed two days of school for what turned out to be a cold.

I wish the LFT had never been invented - I don't think many people do them correctly and take false reassurance, from the results.

The list of 3 symptoms is woefully out of date, it may have applied 18 months ago but certainly not now. Once you test positive and look through all he symptoms it’s clear that the original checklist isn’t fit for purpose.

I got a PCR because my LFT was positive, I only did the LFT as I knew I’d been in contact with a child who had Covid and I had the same runny nose and exhaustion. DH and DS tested negative on LFTs but the following day were positive on PCRs. DS has never had one of those main symptoms.

If we’d stuck to the main symptoms for a PCR I’d have been walking around for another 4 days before I lost my sense of smell, DH took 5 days to develop a cough and DS would have continued going to school throughout. Between us we are in contact with around 4000 people: almost all unvaccinated.

3 of us tested positive on PCR and only 2 on lateral flow. The one who tested negative on lateral flow is in college so he’d of spread it everywhere.
Interestingly he was the one with hardly any symptoms, just a slight runny nose and a temperature he didn’t even know he had. My DD and I were more unwell.

I agree with you OP.

We were pretty certain that ds's cold and sore throat was caught from his girlfriend and the numerous classmates at college but when he started to cough he put himself into isolation and we went for a pcr test despite us both having negative lateral flow tests. Thankfully it was negative.

Agreed OP.

DD has Covid. She had a sore throat and headache and I kept her off school and booked a pcr test last Thursday, as many of et year group have tested positive. She OT positive pcr results Friday morning. Out of interested we tested her on a lf test Friday morning. Negative. Friday afternoon we did it again and it showed a positive. Monday morning lft, negative. Even if eating twice a week on Mondays and Thursdays, as directed by school, she'd have missed registering as positive on a lft.

My kids had lovely negative LFT’s when they were Pcr positive.

I can see why people would do LFT’s, they don’t want to isolate or deal with t&t. The best way to not have to isolate is to not do a pcr, but maybe they ease their conscience a bit by doing an LFT. Most people wouldn’t challenge them on what type of test they took when they gaily announce “my test was negative”.

I also think most people have missed the change in strategy. We are no longer trying to stop others catching covid. We are just trying to avoid everyone catching it at the same time.

Op I know it's really annoying, but really there is much information out there it's confusing.

I have been worried about covid so I've been doing lots of research on it. But many people have other stuff going on in their lives and don't assimilate info... Info has been poor front then government.

Read this that says LFT'S are really good at picking up positives when you are most contagious.
twitter.com/michaelmina_lab/status/1441421669306978307?s=19

Well for me the nearest drive through PCR testing unit is 27 miles away, and walk through is even further. Postal would take too long. We do it when needed but I can see why people do LFTs even if it's not the right thing...

Lft's are supposed to be for asymptomatic anyway, so why are they even being used for people who are ill? I agree they should be told to book a PCR

The odd idea that LFTs only work when someone is asymptomatic is plain wrong.

Sure they're not as accurate as PCRs, but they test for the virus which, of course,
is definitely still present in the day or so after symptoms appear.

I'm glad we don't have lateral flow tests here in Ireland. They seem very unreliable.

Exactly @Warhertisuff! Everyone seems fixated with the idea that LFTs only work on asymptotic cases, probably because they were rolled out for use by the general population under the banner of 'asymptotic testing' and have been widely promoted for that purpose. It definitely doesn't mean they don't work on symptomatic cases though. In fact research suggests they're most effective when symptoms first appear.

LFT tests denote infectious status rather than infection per se.

They detect shedding of the antigen.

Lfts are around 95% accurate. Theyre hardly a waste of time
www.ox.ac.uk/news/2021-07-14-lateral-flow-tests-are-95-effective-detecting-covid-19-when-used-onset-symptoms

Another friend has bad cold symptoms. Likely just a cold but has relied on lft tests

You'd have to lie to get a PCR test with cold symptoms. I'm not saying you shouldn't lie in this circumstance but many people would feel uncomfortable doing so.

Yes, a colleague came into work coughing a lot but saying - it's okay I did a test at home this morning and it was negative. I stayed well away.

YANBU OP.

Lateral flows have their place, but people need to understand their limitations, they are not accurate enough to use when people have symptoms.

We need to break the chains of covid transmission, and one of the ways we can do that is to get a PCR test if we have symptoms and isolate until we get the result.

Yes it's a pain - but the more people that are community minded and actually do that, the faster we will be out of this situation. Otherwise we're going to be in for a horrendous winter.

I can't understand why people aren't bothered if they pass covid on to someone else - I would be mortified - and would never forgive myself if I had knowingly passed it on to someone who was left long term disabled or died from it.

And whilst we're all at it, if we could dig the masks back out so we don't pass on or pick up any of the other bugs that are going around too that would be great :-)

Covid is spreading like wildfire through my school currently, staff and students. There's also a non-covid cough going round. Pretty much all the coughers don't have Covid, and most of the Covid was picked up by LFTs.

Lots of people can't afford to take multiple days off work

Eergh. Currently awaiting PCR test for DC with fever and cough (again) despite being told that I'm overreacting by family and advised by nursery that it's ok to send them in coughing! Starting to wonder why I bother when so many others aren't taking it seriously any more. Weak government messaging has confused matters to the point that many have just switched off, I think.