Should I lie to get PCR test?

[Coconut49]

Have heavy cold and have also lost voice. Rarely cough - only to clear phlegm from throat. 3 negative LFT's. Friend is adamant I should get PCR test but I would have to lie on form as haven't got continuous cough, temperature or loss taste/smell. What would you do? Surely if government wanted us to test with cold symptoms they would change criteria to access PCR?

I have an awful cold. Negative lateral flow, negative PCR.

I didn’t think I had covid from my symptoms, but it was rampaging through school, so I took a test which turned out positive.

It presents as a cold in a lot of cases now.

@bluelavender

If you believe that you have been in contact with an infected person then you can access a PCR test. Its one of the options towards the bottom of the form

I never said I had been in contact with an infected person?

DD's only symptom of covid was laryngitis. She got negative lft but positive pcr.

@sonjadog

Don't take one then. It sounded like you were worried about having covid and wanted to take a test in your opening post, not that you were trying to find reasons not to take one. If you don't have any classic symptoms and aren't required to take one, then don't.

I also have a heavy cold and am going for a test in an hour. I also will be very surprised if it turns out to be covid, but I am going to visit my elderly mother on Thursday and I want to be sure. So for me the reasons for taking one outweight the potential inconvenience. But it is up to you to weigh up your own situation.

Didn't mean to sound worried. I'm not worried I have got COVID at all. Many of my DD's uni friends have come down with cold bug which is not Covid. More concerned with risk of false positive PCR test if I do decide to take PCR test. If I did get a positive LFT I would of course get a PCR.

*If you dont want to take a test then dont, but dont peddle false information.

What you said was that LFT are most accurate at derecting symptomatic covid, implying they are more accurate than a PCR*

I was not 'peddling false information' or implying LFT's are more accurate that a PCR. Someone had said LFT's no use if you have symptoms but actually LFT's are more accurate than with no symptoms. I didn't compare to PCR at all. Obviously PCR is more accurate for symptomatic Covid but my point is there is still a risk of false positives

@Coconut49

In the UK, the tests we use are not more accurate if you have symptoms. The article you linked to shows that. So you're making things up to work to your agenda.

They are not more accurate if you have symptoms. They might be the same accuracy between symptoms and no symptoms but the sample size used of not symptomatic people was very small so doesnt give an accurate percentage.

You no longer need to lie to get a PCR without the one of the three “main” symptoms!

They changed the wording on the booking page a few weeks ago, it now asks “Do you have coronavirus symptoms?” and has a note saying you must isolate if it’s one of the big three.

@Coconut49

The article is quite clear. They are more accurate than the government initially thought.

Not more accurate than a PCR.
Not more accurate if you have symptoms compared with not having symptoms.

They are just more accurate in symptomatic people than the government initially thought they were. That's the comparison being made. The actual accuracy compared with the accuracy initially thought by the government.

To be fair to the OP there have been loads of people recently on here saying things like ‘LFT’s don’t work if you have symptoms’ or as I read on a thread here the other day ‘an LFT will always show negative if you have symptoms’, which is obviously a complete misunderstanding.
They do ‘work’ with symptoms, but not with as much accuracy as a PCR.

@JanglyBeads

You no longer need to lie to get a PCR without the one of the three “main” symptoms!

They changed the wording on the booking page a few weeks ago, it now asks “Do you have coronavirus symptoms?” and has a note saying you must isolate if it’s one of the big three.

This is incorrect as far as I can see on government website

www.gov.uk/get-coronavirus-test

@TheGrumpyGoat

To be fair to the OP there have been loads of people recently on here saying things like ‘LFT’s don’t work if you have symptoms’ or as I read on a thread here the other day ‘an LFT will always show negative if you have symptoms’, which is obviously a complete misunderstanding. They do ‘work’ with symptoms, but not with as much accuracy as a PCR.

Exactly. Thank you.

@TheGrumpyGoat

OP didnt say they work half the time with symptoms though which, as you say, some people dont realise. She said they are more accurate if you have symptoms. They are not.

@Coconut49

That's the second time you've linked to something and been wrong about what it says.

There is a big old section which says "you can also use this service if" and the first line is "if you've been a close contact of a positive case".

I think the rhetoric of "lying" is really unhelpful alongside the government not changing the official symptoms to match reality.

Most vaxed people get mild cold symptoms. If you have them get a test. If you tick no symptoms you can tick Zoe study or close contact and get one. Nobody checks or cares.

My friends son was doing LFT, all negative and thought just a cold. I said to get him a PCR to make sure... Covid positive although LFT showed negative still...

No one will think any less of you for wanting to check. I would prefer people did.

I do Zoe and often get asked to do a PCR.

They don't check your symptoms. Many people are positive without any of the three main symptoms.

[quote TheWoleb]@Coconut49

That's the second time you've linked to something and been wrong about what it says.

There is a big old section which says "you can also use this service if" and the first line is "if you've been a close contact of a positive case".[/quote]
What? I never said I've been a close contact of a positive case? Someone said 'you no longer need to lie' to get a PCR test as wording had changed. I can't see that wording has changed and I WOULD need to lie. That was all I was saying.

@Coconut49 it sounds like you are not worried that you have Covid, and think that you have a cold. However, people around you are concerned that it may be Covid?

If you think that you may have Covid, and cannot rule out that you have been in contact with an infected person then this would be a good and valid reason to take a test.

If your cold is actually Covid, then you would have caught it by being in contact with an infected person

Pregnant women are exempt from the testing criteria, or they are locally. Our local testing centres (both walk in and drive through) will take pregnant women as walk ins even if you have no symptoms. Just use the service.

Apologies, I did know it still talks about three main symptoms on that page. However when you click Get a Test, the second page you come to us this one, which just takes about “symptoms”:

OP you are under no obligation to get and PCR test and you don’t want to get one, so don’t!

If you are heavily (virus) symptomatic and you’ve had 3 negative LFTs, I think you can be fairly confident it’s not likely to be Covid. LFTs are generally pretty good at detecting Covid in those who are symptomatic x

Those 3 symptoms are about a year out of date. I was positive without any of them (though I certainly had other symptoms and felt terrible) and this was pre Delta variant. I lied to get a PCR test as did a family member. We both came back positive. When we put our real symptoms into 111 it said probably not Covid, no need to test.

@Bizawit

OP you are under no obligation to get and PCR test and you don’t want to get one, so don’t!

If you are heavily (virus) symptomatic and you’ve had 3 negative LFTs, I think you can be fairly confident it’s not likely to be Covid. LFTs are generally pretty good at detecting Covid in those who are symptomatic x

Thanks Bizawit. Just did 4th LFT - negative also so I'm confident not Covid.

@JanglyBeads

Yes it is referring the three symptoms mentioned before . Not just any symptoms