2 children with +lfts both testing negative pcr

[LLEJ]

Looking for advice. Dd2 woke up on mon morn with a headache and feeling under the weather so did lft before school. Read it at 25 mins- negative. Gave her nurofen and sent her to school. Went to the shop on way home and returned 2 hours later to find faint positive line on lft. Seeing as dd1 was home from school due to inset day tested her straight away on lft - dark positive appeared immediately! Informed school straight away and removed the three youngest and had them down the testing centre an hour later, all had pcr tests and all came back negative the following day. Whilst waiting for the pcr results tho I’d done a further 2 lfts on dd1&2 all came back strong immediate positives! Tested myself each time and negative always for me. Tests were from a mixture of different boxes too.
Ordered and returned postal pcr tests as I don’t know what to think!

Has anyone had a similar experience? I’m more inclined to think that we had false negative pcr tests than false positive lfts given they were from different boxes, done on different days, on two different children etc and I’ve tested negative through out. My mind is boggled!

There are several threads in this topic about this exact thing, have a scroll down, lots of people with same issue

we had this issue last week positive lft for DD on 2 occasions classic. ovid symptoms but negative PCRs My take on it is the gov are fiddling the figures keeping numbers low so economy can stay open. Meanwhile covid is ripping through and achieving herd immunity by stealth

I’m inclined to agree that something strange is going on! I just can’t believe that with so many positive lateral flows they’re not infected, especially as there have now been at least 6 cases in dd2 school class of less than 30, one of which was reported just today. I haven’t sent any of them back to school yet, even tho the guidelines say I should, but this means I’m having to take time off work with no official excuse 🤷‍♀️🤷‍♀️

Hi! Just posted this! As a family we’ve all had positive LFTs, 8 in total from different batches - husband and son both negative PCR, not got mine and daughters back yet but it makes no sense! We have also started developing symptoms. I’m convinced we have it!

Lost all faith in the tests now!

This article may have the answers we're looking for! Seems we're not alone. Only hope it's not a new variant eek!

apple.news/AhrYPaa45QV6NzqaKuMciow

www.google.co.uk/amp/s/inews.co.uk/news/covid-lateral-flow-tests-negative-pcr-1236141/amp

On one of the threads on here there is a link to PHE investigating it due to massive amounts of +ve LFT but -ve PCR. I'll see if I can find the link.

Ah @bluebirdswhistle has posted a link.

That's interesting. We had several cases like that in our school before summer but as soon as the PCR came back negative the staff and kids was told to crack on presuming it wasnt covid

Could it be a new variant that the current PCR tests do not recognise?

@WeMustGetOffTheMountain yes that is one of the theories

Update dd2 test just came back positive... still waiting on dd1 and mine 🤷‍♀️

This is going on a lot near us (SW)

We are South Wales

Dd1 test also came back positive a few hours later. Mine was negative. So the lfts we all did on Monday gave the correct results. The pcr done at a drive in test centre on Monday gave both my girls false negatives! Postal tests done 2 days later gave accurate readings.

We've all been in limbo for 4 days due to inaccurate pcrs. If I didn't follow my gut and just accepted the results from the first pcr tests I would have sent my 4 children back to school and infected countless others! 4 different classes in 2 different schools... scary!

There does seem to be a lag in time after getting positive LFT and positive PCR test. I read so many tines on mumsnet that this has been the case when they’ve PCR tested again a couple of days later, results come back positive. At least your DD2 should now be half way through isolation, with the others close behind. Hoping you all recover quickly.

@bluebirdswhistle

we had this issue last week positive lft for DD on 2 occasions classic. ovid symptoms but negative PCRs My take on it is the gov are fiddling the figures keeping numbers low so economy can stay open. Meanwhile covid is ripping through and achieving herd immunity by stealth

You're not serious? How would they do this? All the PCR test analysers would have to be in on it!

There was a faulty batch of pcr tests within south west test centres.

Sae it on fb not sure its validity but others said same thing

Covid Test Centre manager acknowledges faulty PCR batch of tests in the South West. No on the news yet and no official, so difficult to double check . So if your LFT is positive and your PCR negative BE CAREFUL, specially if you are around vulnerable people. I know this might sound like "fake news" but the source of the information is extremely reliable. I imagine this will be in the news sooner or later. I HOPE they are working to identify the faulty batch (???) , but in the meantime, follow your instinct and if you are ill, don't go to work/school and take precautions. Thanks
Also could it depends how many times they ran the pcr results through the cycle which all sounds bit dodgy.

Thank you for updating! I’ve got postal ones to send back today so be interesting to see what they say. We are all testing strong positive on LFTs (family of 4) and have symptoms. It’s so weird as LFTs supposed to less sensitive!

This is pretty shocking, OP! Well done on following your instincts and common sense!

Going by my experience and what I've been reading over the last few days, if you have a positive lft, especially if you've had multiple, I'd trust that over a pcr all day long! Pcrs apparently give many more false negatives than lfts give false positives. Faulty batch of pcrs or whatever the problem is, follow your own gut! I'm now staying at home with my all my children and testing daily on lfts as I have what feels like a heavy cold and cough. I've tested negative throughout this week and am double jabbed but as a care worker in close contact with vulnerable people in their own homes I WILL NOT go to work if there is any doubt in my mind that I could infect them. The guidelines at the moment are just plain stupid in my opinion. I could go to work and my two youngest children who are also negative could go to school! Just plain stupid!

This is a thing apparently and just starting to be talked about in the news. It's not just in the SW as we're in the SE and know friends it's happened to.

We have an alternative issue where we are too. Masses of cases at school 1/3 of some tutor groups off. All sick children have been in very close proximity and have same symptoms but some test positive and some negative.

I'm not sure if it's false positives of false negatives. I've lost all faith in the tests !!