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

@jacketpotatoqueen surely that can't be right? If contacts of contacts have to isolate that is utterly barmy. Imagine if someone works in an office of 25 people, each lives with 3 others, you'd have 100 people isolating for one positive case.
I don't think that is what was announced either, I would be inclined to query this, especially if your daughter is negative!

"If someone you've been in contact with catches Omicron (or T&T suspect it might be Omicron ) and you're vaccinated, you DO have to isolate. For ten days. Which will fuck up your run up to Christmas and possibly the day itself."

So who decides whether it might be Omicron? Surely it can't be T&T as that's just call centre workers reading off a script without the ability to deviate or use common sense. Also, if you're told it's suspected Omicron are you then told if it's not?

@PinkSparklyPussyCat they can tell right away from the PCR test if it's missing the S marker.

@EffOrfagain

If whole households of contacts need to isolate, within a couple of weeks most of the country will be shut indoors - that must be an error, it must be just the contact isolating

Nope.

www.gov.uk/government/publications/covid-19-stay-at-home-guidance/stay-at-home-guidance-for-households-with-possible-coronavirus-covid-19-infection

If you live in the same household as someone with COVID-19, you must stay at home and self-isolate if you are not fully vaccinated or if they have been identified as a suspected or confirmed case of the Omicron variant of COVID-19.

But her daughter doesn't have covid. This clearly says people who are unvaccinated or have covid that is suspected to be omicron.

"they have been identified as a suspected case" not a suspected contact.

[quote visitingagain]@PinkSparklyPussyCat they can tell right away from the PCR test if it's missing the S marker. [/quote]
Except some delta sublines also have s gene dropout. So unless they actually sequence all of the s gene dropouts some people will do 10 days when it was actually delta.

Yes it’s not the whole household of an omicron case contact, just the individual. Have just had that discussion on another thread!
Unless T&T are saying different from the printed guidance, this is an evolving situation?

In scotland our local healthboard is asking household contacts of possible cases to isolate until a negative test is returned for them and the contact. The contact has to isolate regardless of their results if the rest are negative they can go out if the contact is negative to.

I thought it was all a bit strange so called T&T myself again this morning, got someone on the line who said he thought the advice we had been given was wrong!!! He then put me on hold and came back to say that it was incorrect!!! Only the contact of a suspected case has to isolate! Thank goodness we haven’t wasted much time sitting indoors!
Obviously if my DD subsequently comes back positive on her PCR - and if she is suspected omicron - then we would have to isolate. But she is still negative on her LFTs so will be surprising if that happens.

If it is not suspected omicron then as we are double jabbed, no need to isolate.

So just goes to show the T&T people are giving out incorrect advice.

We’ve decided that we’ll stay in until her PCR comes back just in case but hopefully that will not be too long.

Meant also to add - my daughter was contacted as a named contact, not via the app.

I think Watapalava raises an important issue.

The problem with contacts of omicron cases, or suspected omicron cases, having to isolate is that it re-opens the issue of malicious or misguided reporting of 'close' contacts.

You may think that the brief conversation you had across the roof of a car with another parent doesn't make you a close contact, but the other parent might. You might think that your cleaner being in your house for four hours with the windows open while you were out and you didn't return for hours doesn't make you a close contact, but your cleaner may not agree. Or you may think someone at a social event seems a bit under the weather and take care to stay the other side of a well-ventilated room from him, but he still names you as a close contact to T&T.

Then there are people like the guy who heard that his ex was remarrying and named her as a close contact just before her wedding although they hadn't seen each other for years.

There is no appeal. If T&T deem you a close contact of, these days, an omicron case, you must isolate no matter how much you disagree you were a contact, or risk a £10,000 fine.

And if the point of isolation is to prevent spread, surely if I tell the people I have been in contact with as soon as I get my result, if they agree that we were contacts they will be able to isolate much sooner than if they don't hear until I've given their details to T&T and have been called. And people who aren't going to isolate, or even those who will mostly isolate but maybe do a quick trip to the shop, will do that regardless of whether it was a friend or T&T who told them to. But if they heard from T&T they are more likely to leave the phone at home.

I can’t quote a post containing a quote but in response to this:

“Nope.

www.gov.uk/government/publications/covid-19-stay-at-home-guidance/stay-at-home-guidance-for-households-with-possible-coronavirus-covid-19-infection

If you live in the same household as someone with COVID-19, you must stay at home and self-isolate if you are not fully vaccinated or if they have been identified as a suspected or confirmed case of the Omicron variant of COVID-19.]”

RedToothbrush, I read that differently to you. It says if you live in a household with someone with covid you must isolate:

• if you are not fully vaccinated
• if they (the person in your house with covid) is identified as a suspected or confirmed case of omicron.

You don’t need to isolate if a household member is a contact of a case of omicron - only they do.

@lightisnotwhite

The ignorance is astounding. Let me spell it out.

Oh get over yourself. It’s not “ignorance”. People are doing whatever makes most sense to them now since we’ve been through all the pandemic worse’s and back a few times.

Isolating for 10 days was the standard rule for Covid since the start. Only relatively recently did you not have to around positive cases. I think most of us can cope with a week and a half now. Even in “ the run up” to Christmas which apparently started mid November,
It’s also being reviewed on the 21st December so every chance it won’t spoil Christmas.

Sorry though, it is REALLY annoying when people don't understand the new rules or go on about things being 'too complicated to know what to do'. Lame. Just read the reffing website!

But surely if masks work and you had yours on how did the non mask wearers affect you?

Hope you are feeling ok - you've not done anything wrong so don't feel guilty. And at least you've got it out of the way pre-Christmas.

I'm in the NW @PatientZerooo. Trying to weigh up sending DS to cub camp next weekend or not in light of Omicron. Can I ask roughly whereabouts you are.? I am between Preston and Blackpool. I know there are cases in Lancaster but just wondering how soon it is here if that makes sense. I reckon days regardless of where you are so only asking out of interest and totally understand if you don't want to be any more specific that NW.

You haven't ruined anything, the virus has. Hope you're all not feeling too rough

@threatmatrix I cannot seriously believe there are still people who don't understand that masks offer greater protection to those around you than to you as a wearer. Incredible people are still this ignorant.

Is that to me? I give not two fucks if people know the rules but chose to not follow them but the constant bleating of not understanding or not wanting to understand the rules is LAME. Especially with the tiers. Look up what tier you are in. Look up the rules. Follow them or don't but ultimately finding out the rules is about as complicated as taking a shit.

@threatmatrix

But surely if masks work and you had yours on how did the non mask wearers affect you?

As any fule kno, masks are more effective at catching the virus on the way out than the way in. My mask protects you; your mask protects me.

Yes people are ignorant aren’t they, masks don’t work and that’s why when you go to hospital you have to wear one of theirs

We’ve just flown back from the USA, visiting our son and family who we haven’t seen for over two years. We were out and about while in the US and mixing with school age grandchildren. Full plane, busy airport but day two PCR tests were negative. Meanwhile, two lots of friends who stayed at home have both caught Covid, vaccinated so not seriously ill. We try to be sensible, we wear masks and wash hands etc. but it seems that luck has a lot to do with who catches Covid and who does not.

@Watapalava

There’s a whole other thread going of people who are also not naming contacts so I’m deffo not alone

If only you were, we’d all be out of this awful situation a lot more quickly.

Sorry to hear this, and I hope you and your family aren’t feeling too ill.

Have you all been vaccinated?

@threatmatrix "Yes people are ignorant aren’t they, masks don’t work and that’s why when you go to hospital you have to wear one of theirs"

Masks are effective at reducing transmission. Your mask protects me my mask protects you as a PP said.

And that is not the reason you have to wear a different mask when you go to hospital. It's to make sure it's clean. Those masks they give you are shite - I wear a P3 mask (which protects me AND you) but they want to know they are clean and to a certain standard.

If you had a knee operation the surgeon would be wearing a mask. Do you think that's because he's worried about catching gammy knee or because the mask he is wearing protects YOU during the operation?