"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.

If you want to make an exemption fir large households it would be better to have a negative pcr AND having previously tested positive in the last 5 months.

@GruntingAndScratching so they don't spread it , my ds has covid now no main symptom.
We can all go out as double jabbed but we aren't as able to adjust things but I accept for many thats not the case
My friend som had covid she is a teacher she still had to go to work
She assumes she never had covid as done a test a day after sons which was negative but what if she came down with after and was asymptomatic
I think scotland require a pcr 3 times within the 10 days , this makes more sense
The rule of not isolating has only recently come in and look at the case numbers now ? Thats only the ones we obviously know about

@Redsquirrel5 yes that makes a little more sense

I don't think it will be long until Borris throws in the towel and stops testing at all. We can't live worrying about it forever.

I live in the southwest where a bunch of recent PCRs have been falsely identified as negative. So yes at the moment it seems LFTs are more reliable! I haven't had any of the main symptoms though, or my kids, and we are.just testing routinely or for headaches etc.

@Thenosleepclub

I live in the southwest where a bunch of recent PCRs have been falsely identified as negative. So yes at the moment it seems LFTs are more reliable! I haven't had any of the main symptoms though, or my kids, and we are.just testing routinely or for headaches etc.

Because the lab wasn’t accredited and was run by some tory’s mate.

@StPaulandTheBrokenBones

Yes, it's an interesting article. Lots of people on here saying they were positive on PCR but negative on LFT. I wonder how may have subsequently developed symptoms or did they remain asymptomatic? Did LFT become positive subsequently? Perhaps they had already had asymptomatic covid and had spread it to someone who became symptomatic, who knows. From a public health perspective those are the questions that matter. Someone who is PCR positive who is no longer infectious really isn't a concern. As yet we don't have the answers to those questions. Time will tell.

[quote Crunchymum]@CuriousUnderTheStairs

Can't you just wait for your PCR result to go to the Post Office?

I'm pretty lax with it all but once you do a PCR test, you really should isolate.[/quote]
Just got the result - negative

Daughter currently has covid, as have 8 others in her secondary school class. Our family have all been for PCRs, which have come back negative, so I think technically DS could go back to school and DH to the office (I WFH). However, the children slept in the same room at the weekend and we spent all weekend together doing family stuff, so the likelihood is that even though we might be negative now, more of us will go positive in the next few days. We are lateral flow testing daily. To me it seems crazy that we have a positive case in our household but we could all just go back into normal life.
I get that sending whole cohorts home was too much, but I think this other end of the spectrum is too little!

Took my daughters LFT tests (doing them daily since ill) 3 days to show positive. Her PCR came back positive the same day. LFT's are a waste of time, especially using them to get into mass gatherings.

Oldest (v close contact) , positive LFT six days but x2 negative pcr. Now rest house have dry cough, very high fever, aches, diarrhoea in youngest, heavy cold symptoms but all LFT negative - we are awaiting pcr . All vaccinated against flu over a month ago.

[quote Crunchymum]@Peanutsandchilli

How did you get your DC back in school without her PCR test results? With my school there is no way a child, with symptoms and confirmed to have taken a PCR test, would be permitted back without the negative test.[/quote]
Schools are not allowed to ask for PCR results. I've had to phone up to chase results before and was told that they wouldn't send a confirmation text and, if school asked, I was to tell them they shouldn't be asking. If I wanted confirmation of a negative test, I could only get a letter in the post.

My daughter's school said nothing to me.

@eekbumbler

Took my daughters LFT tests (doing them daily since ill) 3 days to show positive. Her PCR came back positive the same day. LFT's are a waste of time, especially using them to get into mass gatherings.

Yes. I don't think they are a waste of time - better than nothing, 2 x a week would pick up some asymptomatic cases etc. Using them to get into crowded places is however very flawed. Vaccine passports all the way for that.

@user7667781

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

so why was my lft negative and pcr positive? (I was symptomatic)

Schools are allowed to ask for PCR results but they cannot insist upon them. They ask for the results so that they can ensure to the best of their ability that they are following this DfE guidance:

“ 4. Follow public health advice on testing, self-isolation and managing confirmed cases of COVID-19

When an individual develops COVID-19 symptoms or has a positive test

Pupils, staff and other adults should follow public health advice on when to self-isolate and what to do. They should not come into school if they have symptoms, have had a positive test result or other reasons requiring them to stay at home due to the risk of them passing on COVID-19 (for example, they are required to quarantine).”

Yes dd was unwell enough to be off school but neg on LF. I only did a (positive ) pcr on her as I was curious as she was more ill than me (not for long, although I remained negative on both LF and the pcr I took. I'm sure I had it though as had same illness as dd and friends who've had covid

We currently have 5 people at my workplace who are all displaying coronavirus symptoms but they don’t have it because they’ve done several lateral flows

They need to abandon t&t as well as I only did the one pcr as I didn't want them on my case . Having had the experience, I wouldn't pcr again. I'd do dd cos of school but as I wfh I'll just be careful when I'm not welll. I wonder if the system puts some people off doing a pcr.

And I'm certain neither of my parents would ever agree to a pcr because of test and trace!!

It's in the media that lft's are now thought to be much more accurate than previously thought. If people are told this why would they for a pcr?

DC had repeated positive lft's with negative pcrs. Told pcr is gold standard, carry on as normal. I questioned the symptom list which hasn't changed since last year and was told that these are still the symptons to be aware of. DC didn't have those symptoms.

There is now too much confusion, too many cockups (DC was positive, we are SW so involved in results cock up).

So in my family we have now all had covid, 3 out of 4 of us are double jabbed. Cannot trust testing. Unless one of gets the symptoms as defined by NHS we are just carrying on as normal. We have stopped testing.

My daughters school refused to allow children to attend this week until in receipt of a negative PCR, proof had to be required. This was to be followed up by 5 days on LTFs at home. Due to an outbreak in her class.

What a waste of time i though, she's symptomless, but then came all the positives from her classmates who were not showing a single symptom. They would have been merrily spreading it without a clue.

Also meant to add the 6/7 year olds most common symptom was a headache and a snotty nose.

@littlestmunchkin what do you mean on your case they phone you once

@worriedatthemoment they called multiple times and each call was irritating. So I stopped answering then the council test and trace called who were excellent (top tip)

This has been happening for months. Now that cases in kids are high it is just more obvious that lft's have limitations as to the viral load needed to work.

The PCR testing debacle had eroded trust but at the same time the rampant numbers in the sw from people not isolating as a result provides some illustration of what could happen if we stop testing completely( as some people suggest)