FFS I’ve got suspected omicron

[PatientZerooo]

Although nobody has actually told me personally - I only know because my contacts (including DH and DC) have been contacted by T&T and told.

Took test on Tuesday, positive result on Wednesday, T&T follow up today.

I have ruined a lot of people’s plans

" If everyone would stop testing we’d be out of this mess in a few weeks."

And the 'LaLaLa I'm Not Listening' award goes to...

It’s not your fault, OP. Although I felt exactly the same as you when I tested positive on 18th December last year. Covid ripped through our school and when I started coughing the day after we broke up I just sat and cried, worrying about how many people’s Christmas plans I’d ruined.
This virus is a fucker in many more ways than one. Hope you’re ok x

@Vasilyene

Woke up a few days ago feeling like death warmed up with no taste or smell, a dead leg and folded big toe. Reckon this is Omicron there's no other explanation 😭🤷🏻‍♂️

What is folded big toe? Is this a symptom of covid I haven't heard about?

Nothings you can do OP. Hope it’s mild.

To the people asking of the pcr test is different for the omicron my daughter went today for a normal test. Awaiting results. But I did 3 different covid tests as a study when I was positive 3 months ago to get a faster result. One of them being a fatter cotton bud and more liquid. So it might be that the trials worked and are now using a better test.

And really not your fault op. Don't feel guilty.

Can someone confirm to me if this text means the person I’ve been in contact with has the new variant, it’s definitely more strongly worded than the previous text I’m sure…

NHS Scotland Test and Protect: Ref: …

This is a message from NHS Scotland Test and Protect.
You have been identified as a close contact of someone who has tested positive for COVID-19. Please self-isolate up to and including 10 Dec 2021. Add an extra day if you have travelled internationally.

Book a PCR test: www.nhsinform.scot/covid-19-testing. If you need help, call 119.

Check your eligibility to end isolation early: www.nhsinform.scot/isolation

Health and Social Care worker advice: www.nhsinform.scot/critical-workers.

If we think you may have been exposed to the Omicron variant:
Test and Protect will call you.
Isolate for 10 days even if fully vaccinated, under 18, or if you test negative.

It says they will call you, so that will tell you.

Don't feel guilty it's not your fault just wondering how come not many were eaweinr masks on the train is it mot commone sense to wear a mask in a crowded space like a train

The first person I knew who had Covid last year caught it somewhere aound Cheltenham, on the trains where everyone else caught it too. Poor thing had been to a funeral, it seemed like such bad luck at the time - but only the start...

I was on a crowded bus in London today and there were half a dozen people that I could see on the lower deck not wearing masks. Last time I'll be catching the bus for a while.

It's widespread, partly, because so many people didn't wear masks. Think about that.

@Skinnytailedsquirrel think about what?

@sarah13xx it does sound that way, however when you follow the link for isolation nothing has changed and you get out of isolation with a negative test. It is very similar to the recent message I received when I was a close contact.
I wonder if they still need to update the NHSinform website, to include the isolation due to omicron. Which still says unless you have a cough, fever or loss of taste or smell they don't think you are "at risk" of having coronavirus........

"It's widespread, partly, because so many people didn't wear masks. Think about that."

Considering that there's no conclusive evidence whether masks work or not (it seems that they should in theory, but can be counter-productive in the real world), I'm very impressed that you've worked out a cause and effect between lack of masking and the spread of the latest variant. Perhaps you should supply your evidence?

Yes there is conclusive evidence that masks reduce the risk. There has been published research.

How can they tell the difference? From regular covid to this new O version?

Sorry if this is a stupid question but I can’t find any Info on this

Here you go @Melliphant:

“ Conclusions This systematic review and meta-analysis suggests that several personal protective and social measures, including handwashing, mask wearing, and physical distancing are associated with reductions in the incidence covid-19.”
www.bmj.com/content/375/bmj-2021-068302

(If you’d rather read the Guardian summary of the above: “ Mask-wearing is the single most effective public health measure at tackling Covid, according to the first global study of its kind, which found that the measure was linked to a 53% fall in the incidence of the disease.”)

Or this: www.pnas.org/content/118/4/e2014564118

Or this
“ In conclusion, this meta-analysis suggests that there is association between face mask use and reduction of COVID-19.”
eurjmedres.biomedcentral.com/articles/10.1186/s40001-020-00475-6

Re your first query, about mask wearing in general.

Have you seen it suggested anywhere at all that the efficacy of masks may somehow be different with the new variant, @Melliphant?

I seriously can't understand why people are getting their knickers in a twist over wearing a fecking mask. Ffs it's a bit of cloth over your face. Get a grip.

The bmj review doesn't show a 53% reduction, and didn't the Guardian publish a correction?

fullfact.org/health/mask-wearing-study-edinburgh-guardian/

This isn’t what the study says. The study says that mask-wearing was "associated" with a reduction in risk, but that, due to the limitations of the research, “it was difficult for our review to draw a one directional or causal conclusion.”

ie people who wear masks behave differently from people who don't. The best evidence is from Scotland and Wales who had a mask mandate while England didn't (which seemed to have a worse outcome), and neighbouring states in the US, again with a worse outcome.

It's a bit of cloth over your face - generally dirty, badly worn and entirely ineffective. It's covid theatre.

@Tiredoftiers I thought that, when I first read it I thought omg I need to stay in all next week. I was relieved to click the link and see I could still get a test and hopefully get out early. Did they not stop telling close contacts to get tests and isolate and now we’re back to doing it because of omicron? I’d say I’m a relatively intelligent person and I would choose to follow the rules to the best of my ability but if I didn’t have a clue what I was supposed to do, whether I was to get a test, isolate etc and then getting that text made it all the more confusing, what chance do people who don’t try to follow it all have? Surely they could make it less complex somehow

Just on the trains. If you wore a well fitted FFP2 mask on the train you would be very unlikely to get Covid.

Worth thinking about future wise.