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Covid

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Original poster

What is the likelihood of a positive PCR?

37 replies

EmmaGrundyForPM · 21/12/2021 08:10

Relative who is due to come for Christmas phoned last night to say that have Covid symptoms. Woke up yesterday with scratchy sore throat, lost sense of smell and taste. Feels very tired. Booked a PCR test which he took last night, so will get results either late today or tomorrow.

He also took two LFTs 8 hours apart, and both were negative.

Obviously if PCR is positive he will isolate and not come to us for Christmas. But is it likely to be when the LFTs are negative? If he's positive he will have to spend Christmas alone. I am tempted to drive over there with food and presents and leave them on his doorstep, but it would be a 4 hour round trip on Christmas Eve as I'm working until then. It would mean cancelling something else which won't be an issue, but it would be good to have a rough idea of whether a positive PCR is likely after two negative LFTs so that I can start planning.

OP posts:

Shedmistress · 21/12/2021 08:56

Never in the history of the world would we have expected someone to isolate with a cold.This is getting out of control.

He has 4 covid symptoms. That's the difference.

Even if you don't care about the people he might infect on the journey, at least think of the NHS who have been working flat out for 2 years on this. Surely we should all be making grown up decisions when we have 4 covid symptoms to stay in and contain it.

deathofastrawberry · 21/12/2021 08:56

I think people are missing @Shedmistress point, he has covid symptoms, not just cold symptoms, so therefore he shouldn't really go on public transport neg test or not. I don't think she's saying everyone who has a cold should isolate.

However, I have certainly lost my sense of taste and smell during a bad cold. So it's really hard to tell. I wouldn't risk it!

ShiftingSands21 · 21/12/2021 09:05

@Shedmistress

I'm going to go with, even if it was negative, do you want to catch whatever it is he has, which incidentally are the exact same symptoms of covid? The virus that has killed tens of thousands of people just in the UK? That is still the subject of daily reports on the news, internationally?

Sometimes I do wonder about what the point of news is, when people never listen.

I don’t actually get this. If it’s not covid but it has similar symptoms, you should still isolate because covid is in the news a lot? I am now also wondering what the point of the news is. Feel like I’ve missed something.

troper · 21/12/2021 09:07

@deathofastrawberry

I think people are missing *@Shedmistress* point, he has covid symptoms, not just cold symptoms, so therefore he shouldn't really go on public transport neg test or not. I don't think she's saying everyone who has a cold should isolate.

However, I have certainly lost my sense of taste and smell during a bad cold. So it's really hard to tell. I wouldn't risk it!

Ah ok, I thought you were saying that if someone had a cold similar to mild covid, they should isolate in case they pass it on and someone else gets similar symptoms and initially thinks they may have covid.

I think that's a bit OTT

However, if someone suspects they have covid but it's just not confirmed via a test then I agree isolation would be sensible

Shedmistress · 21/12/2021 09:11

Did you read the link about negative PCRs not meaning that you are 'safe'. It doesn't mean you don't have it. It doesn't mean you aren't carrying it.

I think you are definitely missing something, yes.

ShiftingSands21 · 21/12/2021 09:20

I read it. I’m not sure it says what you think it says. For example, it doesn’t say you usually should isolate for a negative test, nor does it list what symptoms are likely covid or not? You can also have covid and be entirely symptom free so really everyone might have covid at any time, symptoms or not, PCR or LFT or otherwise.

Shedmistress · 21/12/2021 09:25

@ShiftingSands21

It says:

'But a negative test is not a guarantee you do not have COVID-19 and there’s still a chance you may be infectious.'

ShiftingSands21 · 21/12/2021 09:27

Yeah obviously it’s possible but so are a lot of things.

Original poster

EmmaGrundyForPM · 21/12/2021 10:45

Relative is a grown man, has been very sensible during Covid as his partner is asthmatic. She is going to her family for Christmas, he is coming to us, they have not been socialising etc but obviously if he is positive he could have picked it up in the supermarket etc.

He is isolating now until his PCR comes back. If it's negative and his next LFT is negative then is he really supposed to still isolate? That is not what the NHS website says. My ds can't smell a thing at the moment and has a cough, but he doesn't have Covid, he has a cold. Negative LFTs and negative PCR. He's still going to work because his employer won't give him 10 days off for a cold.

Covid symptoms are very similar to cold symptoms, which is why we have to assume it may be Covid when we get them, and isolate until we get a negative PCR. If we go down the road of saying that, despite a negative PCR, anyone with covid/cold symptoms should isolate for 10 days, then we would have huge numbers of people off work, including emergency workers, NHS workers, teachers, hospitality workers etc. We'd be stuffed.

OP posts:

Original poster

EmmaGrundyForPM · 24/12/2021 04:21

Just to.update, his PCR came back negative. He did another LFT before getting on the train and that was also negative. He has a cold, although apart from a blocked nose it's pretty much over and done with. Sadly the blocked nose is causing him to snore loudly, which is why I'm wide awake at this time of night!

OP posts:

Mindymomo · 24/12/2021 08:44

Good to hear update, not so good having a snorer in the house.

steppingcarefully · 24/12/2021 09:30

The link to the NHS site doesn't make it clear if that information is for a negative LFT or a negative PCR, unless I'm not reading it properly! I had a cold and cough for 4 weeks. I was regularly doing LFT's for work purposes. They were always negative. I had a PCR on about week 3 (requested for work), negative. I have now tested positive in week 5, my symptoms had eased but came back. I feel exactly the same as I did before so this would suggest that covid can present exactly like a cold. Reading some of these replies some people presumably would expect me to have not carried on as normal for those 4 weeks when I was testing negative.

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