"She's fine, we've done a lateral flow"

[Happymchappy]

I just wondered if anyone else is coming across this more and more amongst parents at school. The vast majority of people I chat to seem to be relying heavily on lateral flows these days - less so PCRs for close contacts, coughs etc.
I'm just intrigued how common this is more widely?
I'm sure if a child was visibly ill with symptoms the school would send them home and they'd get a PCR then - I've come across it more in social interactions like playdates etc.

For those saying you can't have negative LFT and positive PCR - you absolutely can! My son and his Dad both have had this be the case over the last 10 days. Also many of my son's friends (some with and some without symptoms) had negative LFTs and went to test positive.
Lateral flows not worth the effort IMO.

Lateral flows not worth the effort IMO.

Apparently at the moment, a quarter of positives are coming from Lfts. That was said yesterday during the press conference.

The main reason they want you to have a PCR is because you are numbered and can be monitored. I don’t really think it has anything to do with reliability any more.

@Mybalconyiscracking

The main reason they want you to have a PCR is because you are numbered and can be monitored. I don’t really think it has anything to do with reliability any more.

They can sequence pcrs to monitor variants.

My child’s PCR was negative but COVID was confirmed on blood testing.

LFTs are definitely worth the effort! Especially as part of a regular routine.

In my experience pcrs come up positive quicker, LFTs turning positive 48-72 hours later than a pcr.

I am not in one of the areas that was using the Wolves lab though!

This makes me so angry. DS's school require a negative PCR yet I know many of the parents are doing LFT's and sending them back in.

I have a vulnerable family member with virtually no immune system. If one of those kids passes it to DS who gives it to them, they could die. Do those of you not following the rules care about these kinds of outcomes?

The result comes back as fast as a walk in, lots of post boxes around. LFTs not reliable.

I'm not convinced about this re test results. I went yo a walk through centre last Saturday (I was advised I was a close contact. I got results in about 13 hours from taking the test.

It's the ignorant classes innit?

@sqirrelfriends

This makes me so angry. DS's school require a negative PCR yet I know many of the parents are doing LFT's and sending them back in.

I have a vulnerable family member with virtually no immune system. If one of those kids passes it to DS who gives it to them, they could die. Do those of you not following the rules care about these kinds of outcomes?

But why are the school allowing them back? If I sent mine in with a negative LFT with --or after having- symptoms, I'd be called to come and collect them until I could provide the PCR results.

@Dancerinthedark01

Because it's too much now. This has gone on too long. Everyone's exhausted with this. It's a losing battle. What more can I say?

Perfectly articulated.

Need to develop saliva tests for children; nasal swabs for both PCRs and LFTs not doable until children old enough to co-operate.

Here (Austria) the pcr tests are like a mouthwash, you don’t use a swab. Even little kids can use them.

@Tiredtiredtired100 not sure if that applied if you have a child that needs caring for ?

@RedToothBrush your supposed to register LFT as well so still have to give details , all ones the goverment have anyway and prob many organisations in reality , if your on a smartphone then lot of data about you
Lft used as they should be can help
You don't have to isolate for a pcr if a contact but yes of course with symptoms
You should
Pcr also allow checks for variants as well
But i agree on the household not isolating with a positive case , my ds has covid and we are isolating as much as possible but luckily not in work this week and dh is wfh so this makes it harder
I also worked for a company that got shitty with me for staying off with a cough and having a test , the government are detached from reality and need to make it clear to firms they must be ok with this and government offer assistance as well when people are off and incomes are affected .
When your on the breadline one day unpaid can break you

I don't see why a LFT would not pick up Covid in a symptomatic person. It is an antigen test and a symptomatic person has antigens if they have Covid.
If the LFT is negative I do assume that the cough etc is not Covid.
If the LFT were positive in anyway, I would do PCR, but there is no reason that I know of as a medical person why an LFT would not work in a symptomatic person

@Lovemusic33

This annoys me too, LFT are for people without symptoms but they still aren’t reliable. My dd tested positive on a LFT, I was negitive, booked us both in for a PCR and we were both positive. Tested myself many times with the LFT in the ten days I was isolating, never got a positive.

And what was the gap between the lateral flow test and the pcr?

As i say, whats been happening is kids with siblings with covid are coming back neg on a pcr initially but then are retested a couple of days later when they have symptoms and are coming back positive.

In a lot of cases i doubt its lateral flows failing - its more that there is a slight delay in booking and getting tested after a lateral flow thats causing the difference as people aren't showing as positive the second they are infected. It takes a certain amount of time for it to come up as them being positive

My beef with over relying on testing, is its only detecting cases. Once you have a positive within a household its too late. If half the household is isnt isolating, then you are actively preventing spread.

I'm fed up of it. Testing isn't stopping spread because of the daft rule.

DD had covid and the transmission ended there, none of us caught it. Out of all the cases I know (approx 20) there has only been spread in one household. In my sample of data the rule is fine.

@sqirrelfriends

This makes me so angry. DS's school require a negative PCR yet I know many of the parents are doing LFT's and sending them back in.

I have a vulnerable family member with virtually no immune system. If one of those kids passes it to DS who gives it to them, they could die. Do those of you not following the rules care about these kinds of outcomes?

Don't you think the problem is more with the lack of household isolation rather than people not using the 'correct' test system? People wouldnt test positive if they weren't coming into contact with households with known positives. Its been a real problem at a number of schools I am personally aware of because legally the parents have to send in kids after a neg pcr but if they are in a household with a positive test its likely that they will get it still and in the interim are simply exposing others to the risk. The lack of household isolation is utterly beyond my comprehension. I know of a boy who tested positive, brother sent for pcr came back negative, went to school only to come up positive on a lateral flow later that week. If he hadn't been doing lateral flows, it probably wouldn't have been picked up - and given the kid was primary school the official advice isn't for regular lateral flows for young kids - only for their parents. What i am hearing is this scenario is pretty typical and is happening repeatedly too.

So its actually the lateral flow thats picking up the problem because people are effectively going for pcrs 'too soon'. Or vice versa people are saying they are negative on a lateral flow but then later take a pcr and are coming up positive because of the lag between exposure and being infectious enough to be detected.

People are assuming the issue is to do with effectiveness. I'd argue its more to do with timing of tests and a daft household policy.

No one is actively looking at it from this pov though.

I basically think our current strategy for schools and testing - regardless of whether it be either lateral flow or pcr is actively flawed and thats where a significant part of our current problem lies.

Households should be isolating upon a positive test in a household with no early exit via testing.

And thats where its all going badly wrong quickly.

The fact PHE are telling some schools in some areas to go against the DfE on household transmission and saying dont come into school if there is a positive in your house says a lot imho.

@pommedeterre

DD had covid and the transmission ended there, none of us caught it. Out of all the cases I know (approx 20) there has only been spread in one household. In my sample of data the rule is fine.

Shame that actual studies rather than ancedotes are showing a pattern quite different to that...

The lack of household isolation is utterly beyond my comprehension. So if you have several children, all children are rehired to miss school whenever on elf them test positive? It's ridiculous. Whatever for? Covid is now just another disease, which needs to be managed. I am completely against household and close contact isolations. We've had that done it, the Pingdemic was a huge problem. It's ok and it's enough. No more.

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I think people are relying on LFTs because they're feeling the pressure to return to a somewhat normal existence in relation to work.

So for example my 19 month old toddler goes to a Childminder one day a week (today was that day). By 11am I had a phonecall to say she had spiked a temperature and could I pick her up - which is absolutely fine for me as my boss is incredibly supportive. I picked her up within 10 minutes at which point her temperature was back to normal and she was her chatty self, albeit with a snotty nose.

I've ordered a home test as it's impossible to take her to a testing centre unless I want the experience of wrestling an octopus to stick something up her nose. I'm hopeful that it will arrive tomorrow and we will get the results over the weekend and we will isolate until then. However, I've lost 5 hours of working today and will have to catch up once she goes to bed (thankfully a luxury I have that others do not).

Some people literally can't afford to take the time off work for it, especially this time of year when it seems like kids have colds every other day. The insistence that households don't have to isolate in the event of a positive case doesn't help when you have a positive child that can't be left home alone, all it does is add fuel to the "you should be in work if you're not positive" message, which an unsympathetic employer isn't going to budge on, particularly if they think you're being "unreasonable" with the amount of time you're having off to care for a sick/isolating child.

I will continue to get a pcr test for my little girl every time she shows one of the main symptoms but I also understand why some people might be opposed to having to wait for test results if it means they can't work in the interim and they rely on the income to survive.

@GruntingAndScratching

The lack of household isolation is utterly beyond my comprehension. So if you have several children, all children are rehired to miss school whenever on elf them test positive? It's ridiculous. Whatever for? Covid is now just another disease, which needs to be managed. I am completely against household and close contact isolations. We've had that done it, the Pingdemic was a huge problem. It's ok and it's enough. No more.

The entire problem with delta is pretty much that most people in a household will infect at least one other household if they get it...

@user7667781 if your a medical
Person you would know why it may not always work and that they sometimes don't
My ds did a lft it was positive , pcr same day confirmed .
Just to see he did a LFt again couple days later and it was negative , he still had covid

I'm not sure whether anyone has posted this link from UCL but it makes for interesting reading

www.ucl.ac.uk/news/2021/oct/lateral-flow-tests-detect-most-people-risk-transmitting-covid-19