Get another PCR near end of isolation?

[sarah13xx]

So this week of all week my partner has tested positive. He rolls his eyes every time I mention covid, I’m quite cautious about it as we have a 4 month old. Yesterday I was doing a lateral flow and made him do one too. He said he had a blocked nose as he was doing it. He went on and on about how they were a waste of time. Mine came up negative after the 15 minutes, his instantly went positive seconds after taking it 🤦🏼‍♀️ So we stayed away from him, booked a PCR, travelled in separate cars and I did the baby too so I hopefully would know we’re both negative. Sure enough we are and he’s positive.

So due to the new rules we also have to isolate, which is fine. We have a dog who isn’t overly pleased about the new rules 🙄 I’m staying in the baby’s room with him and my partner has our room and the en-suite and is under strict instructions only to open the door when I text to say he can sit plates outside. I’m constantly washing my hands and disinfecting anything he might of touched before he went in there.

He felt a cold coming on and had a blocked/runny nose from ‘earlier in the week’. He’s picked Tuesday as when he thinks it’s started. Going by these isolation dates he would technically be out for 23rd and not miss our baby’s first Christmas but to me it’s all a bit vague. What if he’s out by a day because the symptoms were so mild that I catch it on 23rd when we see him again then we’re back to square one? 🙄 Could we go for another test (separately) to make sure I haven’t caught it while I’ve been isolating in the same house and to check he’s now negative? I know it’s not the done thing and usually we’d just have given it another few days but we’re going to be spending Christmas alone in two seperate rooms of the house and I don’t even want to have our little boy open his presents (open them for him) if he isn’t there.. help 😢

When you say… ‘according to the new rules we also have to isolate’ are you not double jabbed? Because if you are I don’t think you do now, just lateral flow every day. Unless I’ve missed another change

And I think it’s wise to get another pcr. People I know seemed to get it around 1 week after a family member.

PCR tests can come back positive up to 90 days after having it, even if you're no longer infectious. So I wouldn't test him again as it might come back positive even if he isn't. Also its a waste of NHS resources if he is no longer positive.

As for yourself, if you have no symptoms just keep doing LFTs and do a PCR if you get symptoms.

Unless your 4 month old has health concerns or was e.g. very premature, you don't need to worry about covid around them too much.

He cannot test again as you can test positive for up to 90 days after infection. You can get one though.

www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2021/08/210825113649.htm

Here is a study from August this year. People are most contagious 2 days before and 3 days after symptoms appear. By day 9 or 10 he will be far less likely to pass it on to you.
You could request for him to isolate an extra day and come out on the 24th, to put your mind at ease.

You don't suddenly stop being infectious on the 10th day.

He should have been advised not to have further PCRs for 90 days- unless he gets a new set of covid symptoms.
He can do another LFT to check he is no longer contagious. This is what we were advised to do by T&T as I started sneezing on my last day of isolation. As it was negative, I was ok to go out.

My understanding of the new rules is that you only have to isolate until you get your PCR result back. If it's negative then you can stop isolating but you need to do daily lateral flows for the 10 day period.

@sarah13xx I think I've mentioned it on our other thread. In Denmark your isolation ends 48 hours after symptoms end or after 10 days if you continue to have some symptoms eg slight cough headache etc as long as no fever in 48 hours.
Fil has come back last night. His lateral flow was last Sunday though he had symptoms on the Saturday. I don't necessarily agree with him coming back so early though as he still has a cough but he's adamant test and trace said it's fine if you only have a very slight cough and feel otherwise fine. There's nothing I can do so just hoping for the best.
Our pcrs came back negative today so that's day 2, 4 and 6 since his positive test.
You could book yourself in for another test before he's out and maybe get him to do a lateral flow test as it should come back negative within the 10 days (my day was about day 8) pcr for him could stay positive for 90 days though so wouldn't do that!

Also I think your ds is excempt from the daily lateral flows unless he has symptoms. In ni under 5s don't have to do them

@Sparklespangle

You don't suddenly stop being infectious on the 10th day.

Genuine questions, when do you stop becoming infectious?

@User2638483 should have said I’m in Scotland, I should maybe check this first!

@bananaandoears I’m wondering the same 🤔😂 You’re obviously infectious one day and not the next hence the 10 day thing surely 🙈

Thanks for your help! Maybe I should get another PCR but not him then. Sounds like by Christmas Eve there would be very little chance of him passing it onto me as long as he doesn’t have symptoms. Just wish this had happened a few days earlier or he diligently took lateral flows like me and we might have known he was positive during the week 🙈 I don’t want to go to Christmas dinner with my full family now but I’d be happy just to have him downstairs so we could sit together at least, even if he was to wear a mask

See @DockOTheBay above. Most contagious 2 days before and 3 days after symptoms appear. By a week you are unlikely to be contagious and by day 10 you almost certainly are not contagious.

Genuine questions, when do you stop becoming infectious?
I think PP meant that it is a gradual reduction in how infectious you are. Not day 9 - fully infectious, day 10 - not infectious at all.

It will be different for different people but by day 10 for the vast majority, the likelihood of passing it on is greatly reduced and on balance it is "safe" for a person to leave isolation. Some people will no longer be infectious by day 4, some people will still be slightly infectious on day 11.

@sarah13xx

Thanks for your help! Maybe I should get another PCR but not him then. Sounds like by Christmas Eve there would be very little chance of him passing it onto me as long as he doesn’t have symptoms. Just wish this had happened a few days earlier or he diligently took lateral flows like me and we might have known he was positive during the week 🙈 I don’t want to go to Christmas dinner with my full family now but I’d be happy just to have him downstairs so we could sit together at least, even if he was to wear a mask

He shouldn't test again You can test again if you wish

I was vaccinated not too long ago because I didn’t get it when I was pregnant so I was wondering if that’s possibly helped me avoid catching it. If having a cold is ‘symptoms’ then he’s obviously had that all week when I’ve slept in the same room as him etc and somehow not caught it. Think we’ll be safe enough by Christmas Eve then 😅 we can at least go a Christmas Eve walk and have dinner together, maybe just not go to my family’s as my elderly relative is going

My DH had a cold on a Sunday, tested positive by Tuesday on LFT and PCR on Wednesday. The rest of us had no symptoms but all tested positive after PCR on Thursday.
DH was out of isolation on the Thursday, the rest of us had to wait til Saturday.
If you've tested negative, you're only isolating as well due to new rules, if this was pre 11.12.21 you'd be allowed to be out and about right now. Continue the LFT and get your DH to do one in his last few days.

• I think 10 days is because in otherwise healthy people the viruses ability to keep replicating stops well before the 10 days is up. But in people with other illnesses the 10 days may be increased to 18-20days as they can continue to test positive. I know someone who has been asked to isolate longer as they now have a chest infection and it's not certain whether covid is at play.
• not a medical person and some of ^ might just be my interpretation.