Is anyone going for PCR next week as a precaution?

[goldenoldie1]

Given that lateral flows seem to be rubbish / unreliable in confirming positive cases, is anyone going to book PCR tests for their family this week as an extra precaution before mixing?

Yes yes I know you're not supposed to but taking an 'unnecessary' PCR is surely the lesser of two evils compared with Christmas mixing and potentially spreading it around further?

No.

Please don't do this.

Agree - please don’t do this

later, before i see dm tomorrow
but fingers crossed negative and then no further testing.
hoping dd does not test before she comes home also

oh sorry, no not pcr,
just a lft later

LFTs are very good at detecting when you are most infectious
twitter.com/michaelmina_lab/status/1441420493228236801

We will LFT on the day of visiting people.

Incidentally DH went for a PCR yesterday because he has a cough and was asked to trial a new lateral flow test as well. Presumably testing to compare accuarcy. Both negative thankfully.

My lateral flows have been actuate. 5 in a row showed I was positive.

I won’t be doing a PCR unless I’m showing symptoms and lateral flows tell me I’m positive.

I think it will give you a false reassurance. It only tells you whether you had a sufficient viral load when you tested. You would probably need to test around 22nd to be fairly sure to get results back. In that time you could easily catch/ develop a substantial viral load by 25th. A LFT on the 25th will indicate whether you have it on that day. You could even buy some private ones and test part way through the day too if you wanted to be extra cautious.

I don’t think LFTs are that inaccurate are they? Mine picked up covid when I thought I had a head cold. What a waste of a PCR.

Pointless imo unless you are isolating after getting the test and seeing family. You could get a test then catch covid immediately after.

In my experience a test could be negative one day and positive the next.

I have covid right now. I got a pcr test on Friday as Dp had it, pcr was negative. By Sunday I had a strong positive lft.

As someone who works in testing, please do not do this. Testing slots need to be kept for those who are symptomatic or close contacts. The system is already very busy and unnecessary testing impacts test availability now, longer term stocks of kits and turn around times at the lab.

I’m pleased you’ve changed your mind OP. I would Take lateral flows regularly (as per Government guidance) and if there is any hint of a symptom go for the PCR.

If it helps, in our family we all tested positive on lateral flows. The only thing to note is that there was a time lag. So we had very mild symptoms in the morning but lateral flows were negative. Later that day they turned positive.

@goldenoldie1

Given that lateral flows seem to be rubbish / unreliable in confirming positive cases, is anyone going to book PCR tests for their family this week as an extra precaution before mixing?

Yes yes I know you're not supposed to but taking an 'unnecessary' PCR is surely the lesser of two evils compared with Christmas mixing and potentially spreading it around further?

PCR tests are far from infallible... They are 'extremely' unlikely to give a false positive, which makes them different to LFTs (which are only 'very' unlikely to give a false positive) but false negatives are entirely possible.

www.bmj.com/content/372/bmj.n287/related

LFTs have been accurate in my personal experience.