How can people not know how rules

[Desmondo2021]

Am gobsmacked by how many people (including 2 intelligent, educated members of my team of professionals at work) think that if you are symptomatic but getting negative LFTs then you don't need a PCR. I now know 4 people recently with negative LFTs then tested positive after I made them go and get a PCR. No real point to this whinge but just scary how many people are walking about spreading covid and complete ignorance about their responsibilities.

It’s infuriating.

I see people all the time F2F. They then start coughing/sniffing/sneezing and when I’m alarmed and ask them if they’ve tested they say “it’s not Covid my LFT was negative” or, even worse “it’s not Covid, I always get a cough in winter” you may well do but you don’t know it isn’t bloody Covid without testing FGS!
They seem baffled when I point out that LFT can give false negatives and shake their heads when I say they need a PCR and shouldn’t have come without a negative PCR result. I have a CEV family member at home. I’ve genuinely started to hate some people.

We all have Covid. I was rueing the fact that I hadn't got the Christmas cards posted, and a friend said I could post them myself whilst I'm out for exercise! Err... do you know what isolation actually is?

Why? Well I’m so sick of any news I don’t listen to it anymore.

@LetItGoToRuin

We all have Covid. I was rueing the fact that I hadn't got the Christmas cards posted, and a friend said I could post them myself whilst I'm out for exercise! Err... do you know what isolation actually is?

Someone posted on another thread that in their country you could go out for exercise when isolating. Seems like a better balance!

@fallfallfall

Why? Well I’m so sick of any news I don’t listen to it anymore.

It isn’t news to get a PCR test if you symptoms.

It isn’t news to get a PCR test if you symptoms.
Only for the three original symptoms. You mentioned coughing, sniffing and sneezing. You'd only qualify for a PCR for the first unless you had a positive LFT.

I came on here to say that the rules change so often it is hard to keep up! But yes, getting a PCR test if symptomatic is not new.

Oh god yes. DPs friend’s wife has covid. He has a headache but a negative lateral flow so is going about his normal life! He thought we’d still be welcoming him over for dinner tonight

Well lots of people have no idea that vaccine passes or negative LFTs are required in certain settings. Friends of DD are planning a big NYE party and when she mentioned this might not actually be possible if as expected restrictions are brought in, it came as a complete surprise. Apparently they thought Covid was over

It would be helpful if there was more public messaging around testing and when to test plus they really need to update the symptoms list on the NHS testing website.

@SilverGlitterBaubles

It would be helpful if there was more public messaging around testing and when to test plus they really need to update the symptoms list on the NHS testing website.

I'm not disputing that messages have been mixed but needing to get a PCR when coughing or with a temp is not new and it's no secret you don't just rely on LFTs when symptomatic.

@Desmondo2021

Am gobsmacked by how many people (including 2 intelligent, educated members of my team of professionals at work) think that if you are symptomatic but getting negative LFTs then you don't need a PCR. I now know 4 people recently with negative LFTs then tested positive after I made them go and get a PCR. No real point to this whinge but just scary how many people are walking about spreading covid and complete ignorance about their responsibilities.

The government’s messages have been shite that’s why. They’ve not actually written them for different audiences, different levels of education etc.

I’m not disputing that messages have been mixed but needing to get a PCR when coughing or with a temp is not new and it's no secret you don't just rely on LFTs when symptomatic

It’s not obvious though and that’s the point. People are time poor, they don’t diligently check the latest guidance etc so need things plastered everywhere and anywhere. And LFTs aren’t just for asymptomatic cases - people are being told to test twice a week and there’s not enough to say “don’t rely on it if it’s negative and you have symptoms”. The impression very much given is that the LFT gives you assurance before an event.

Made worse by the fact you can have a negative LFT instead of sharing your vaccine status!

Because I don't have it, haven't had it and live in an area where it isn't at a particularly high rate.

When I need to know I will look up the rules that pertain at that time. I know they exist. I don't need to know what they were 6 months ago and all the changes along the way. So I haven't looked, I don't know.

But if/when I do need to I will look them up.

I think some people don't want to get a positive test result because of the 10 day quarantine so brush off a temperature ( which is on the list of symptoms ) and a cough as a winter non Covid virus. Next, I don't know how many people are doing LFTs for 7 days after being in contact with a positive person which is a recent change.

Well tbf even those that make the rules don't know what the rules are.

I don't know the rules. If something happened which made me concerned the rules were relevant, I'd look them up. I've never had symptoms. I test before I see elderly people or go to a party or some such. But the whole different type of test and isolation rules, I don't know about. We've not had to isolate since they changed the rules so that close contacts didn't have to. Which was a relief because we were isolating a lot and we couldn't take it at all.

A friend of mine is positive.
She had no one to take her dcs to school. Its 3 miles away.
School said it would be u authorised so should just take them herlsef and wear a mask in playground.
So she has. She also couldn't get food delivered. So has gone shopping most days!

Her car is rarely out the front. Less so than when she was negative.

It's because the government's public messaging is shit, and the only people who know the latest advice are those who follow the news and press conferences, something that a lot of people have stopped doing to protect their mental health from the incessant doom mongering.

They should put a big red sticker on lateral flow test boxes saying not to use if you have symptoms.

@MarmitesMyMate

A friend of mine is positive. She had no one to take her dcs to school. Its 3 miles away. School said it would be u authorised so should just take them herlsef and wear a mask in playground. So she has. She also couldn't get food delivered. So has gone shopping most days!

Her car is rarely out the front. Less so than when she was negative.

This isn't not knowing the rules, this is just pure ignorance and selfishness.

What 'symptoms' though? The three symptoms they require a PCR have not changed: temperature, loss of smell, cough.

If you have a runny nose/headache/sore throat and you test negative on an LFT then you don't need a PCR test.

@Omicrone

What 'symptoms' though? The three symptoms they require a PCR have not changed: temperature, loss of smell, cough.

If you have a runny nose/headache/sore throat and you test negative on an LFT then you don't need a PCR test.

Exactly, so anyone visiting the testing website to check if they should get a test for a headache, sore throat, runny nose is told you only need a test for cough, temperature, lots of taste and smell. Some people think you cannot request a test without the listed symptoms, my SIL was worried about lying to get a test.

*Loss

@Sunsetsupernova

Oh god yes. DPs friend’s wife has covid. He has a headache but a negative lateral flow so is going about his normal life! He thought we’d still be welcoming him over for dinner tonight

You don't need to isolate or get a PCR for a headache!

That may well be the case but we’re in London where it feels like everyone has Omicrom right now and the main symptom I’m hearing from everyone we know with it is a headache so if someone you share a bed with is positive and you have a headache it’s probably advisable to assume you may have Covid as well and not visit other people’s houses!