Covid - what day did you start testing negative?

[Flatwhitetostayin]

We've all tested positive in our household. Am hoping that by day 8 I will test negative on a pcr so can stop isolating as am double jabbed. How many days in did you test negative? Thanks

You don’t have to text negative to stop isolation, you may in fact return a positive PCR result for 3 months post infection, this doesn’t mean you’re infectious though.

You have to self isolate for the full 10 days once you have tested positive irrespective of any other test within that time.

OP if you have tested positive you have to isolate for 10 days. It's not related to getting a negative test.

I tested positive on a Monday, did a home test on the Thursday and it came back negative. This was in the days before lateral flow tests. Still did my isolation obviously

We timed it for LFT - by day 8 everyone was negative as far as I remember.
OP, if you officially have to isolate you don't require another test - but it is for 10 days.

@Flatwhitetostayin

We've all tested positive in our household. Am hoping that by day 8 I will test negative on a pcr so can stop isolating as am double jabbed. How many days in did you test negative? Thanks

You can’t use a negative PCR to get out of isolation early if you’ve tested positive. You would have got information from Test & Trace explaining when your isolation ends and need to stick to that.

Another for day 8 although it was dd not us.

As above though, that’s not how it works, you isolate for 10 days regardless of vaccination status.

My son tested negative on day 5 but he’s still isolating until Wednesday because that’s the rules!

As per previous it’s 10 days isolation regardless (& PCR would most likely come up positive for up to 90 days so totally pointless). Test and trace should have explained this to you & confirmed which day your isolation ends - it’s also a legal requirement with a minimum fine of £1000 if you don’t comply with it:

www.gov.uk/government/news/new-legal-duty-to-self-isolate-comes-into-force-today

Apparently LFTs can also come up positive for 30 days plus too, although anecdotally they tend to be negative towards the end of the active infection.

We don't live in England so we have different rules.

I was testing negative on a later flow by day 6. However in England very few people would be taking a PCR if already positive as you would have to break your isolation to do so and there is absolutely no need to take a second.

@Tigerwhocameforsupper

I was testing negative on a later flow by day 6. However in England very few people would be taking a PCR if already positive as you would have to break your isolation to do so and there is absolutely no need to take a second.

Eh? No.. you get them sent to your house.

Where I live you take pcr tests on day 2 and day 8. If the day 8 is negative you can come out of isolation.

@ConstanceGracy but you would then have to go to a post box to post it! Which is un-necessary when you have already had a PCR confirm you are positive.

There are only a few reasons you can leave the house during self isolation for being positive and taking a second PCR test just for shits and giggles doesn’t really fit the bill!

Where do you live op?
I am curious because while your pcr will most likely be negative by day 8 sometimes it can remain positive for several weeks, so would you really have to isolate until it became negative?

@Flatwhitetostayin

Where I live you take pcr tests on day 2 and day 8. If the day 8 is negative you can come out of isolation.

I wish that was the rule here! I’m on day 9 now and bored stiff!

And during isolation you are allowed to go to the post box to post a home testing kit or go for a pcr test centre.

You don't need a negative test to stop isolating. You isolate for 10 days from symptoms starting or test date - unless you have a fever then you carry on isolating until
gone. You don't need to isolate if you have a cough still as they can linger for weeks.

You can test positive for 90 days after covid infection supposedly so I wouldn't bother. Pointless exercise. Just go out after your 10 days is up!

[quote Tigerwhocameforsupper]@ConstanceGracy but you would then have to go to a post box to post it! Which is un-necessary when you have already had a PCR confirm you are positive.

There are only a few reasons you can leave the house during self isolation for being positive and taking a second PCR test just for shits and giggles doesn’t really fit the bill![/quote]
Well you are required to do pcr after positive LFT (which is almost always indicating actual Infection) so this kind of negates the idea you expressed.

@Tigerwhocameforsupper

There are only a few reasons you can leave the house during self isolation for being positive and taking a second PCR test just for shits and giggles doesn’t really fit the bill!

Charming. Having a second pcr test is part of my country's covid protocol. So not exactly shits and giggles.

As always it is heartwarming to see grown ups posting only to proudly declare that they followed the (fairly arbitrary) rules and stayed in the house for 10 days.
Well done!

By the way it used to be 14 days just a few months ago. I bet same people would have gladly stoned someone who left the house on day 10 back then.

@BFrazzled

You are asked to continue to isolate beyond 10 days if you are still unwell but not expected to take another covid test to stop isolating. Just that if you test negative on day 8 you can be released early from isolation.

I was still positive on pcr at day 12 (double-jabbed).