Isolation reduced to 7 days *MNHQ editing to make clear this is England-only so far*

[Jourdain11]

It's been confirmed.

BBC News - Covid: Self-isolation cut from 10 days to seven with negative test
www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-politics-59749447

[quote HidingFromDD]@Tippexy, day one is first day of symptoms not the day you took your test. As confirmed by T&T[/quote]
No, it isn’t.

It really, really isn’t.

Day one is the day AFTER your first day of symptoms/test.

No wonder we are in such a mess!!

Weirdly when I had Covid I wasn’t well enough really until day 12/13 so took 2 weeks off. LFT was glaringly positive at day 9 and I still had symptoms too.

I’m meant to come out of isolation on the 27th so thought this had saved the day - until I got the biggest fattest positive lateral flow you’ve ever seen 😂

No wonder we are in such a mess!! You're absolutely right - a small %age of people potentially ending their isolation a whole day early (and presumably ignoring the date given to them by T&T) is of course the reason the virus hasn't gone away...

Yes that’s correct, day 1 is the day AFTER either the start of symptoms or the day of the pcr test (whichever is first). Also, day 10 (originally) wasn’t supposed the be the day you are free. Day 10 is the final day of isolation… the day AFTER this is the day you are free (before they changed the rules today).

I had a positive pcr on Saturday, the same day symptoms started so Sunday is my day 1. That means with the new rules Christmas Eve and Christmas Day are my day 6 and 7. So if i have negative lateral flows on those two days then I am free on Boxing Day. Today is my day 4 and I just checked on lateral flow and still a big fat positive.

Isn't the test void rather than negative if you don't swab?

No it isn't void, it's actually negative. So all you have to do is take a pic.of a test you haven't actually done and you're free to infect people who don't have the option to work from home.

My initial symptoms started end of November

• mild cold symptoms

LFT - negative PCR - negative 30th Nov

LFT - 2nd dec - negative
Lft - 5th dec - negative
LFT - 9th dec - negative
LFT - 12th dec - negative

Did a PCR because my 3yo had to - no changes to my symptoms

15th - positive
LFT- still negative
PCR - 17th dec - positive

LFT - today NEGATIVE

T&t covid app tells me to isolate for ten days until 25th so today is day 6

I will isolate until 25th because I cannot rely on the LFT -

No one else in my house has tested positive so far

@fairynick Me too. Well, mine was only a faint line, not a big fat one, but definitely there. My Dad, on day 9, has got a bright red line.

The people being released after 7 days with negative lateral flows present a vastly reduced risk (in fact almost negligible) compared to just how infectious you are just at the start of developing symptoms. (Hence the reason why mask wearing is so important)

They have known for some time that 7 days was an adequate isolation period (only bolstered by the vaccination programme) but kept it as 10 days for a number of reasons - such as knowledge about non-compliance and human behavior, and to offset other freedoms we were give on "freedom day" eg no social distancing etc. Every choice is linked to other choices - nothing is considered in isolation.

This seems sensible. LFTs, while not infallible, are a good indication of infectivity. Most people aren't thought to be infectious after 5-7 days, and those who are will mostly be picked up by day 6&7 testing. It seems better than trapping large numbers of the workforce at home when they are well, just in case (and why stop at 10 days, someone somewhere might be infectious after 12, 15, 30, etc?).

In any situation there are going to be some outliers, but as PP say, it's probable that the few who continue to be infectious after 7 days are vastly outnumbered by the people who are out and about infectious before they even realise they have symptoms, never mind test.

The people who don't test, or lie, or go to work when they don't feel well are always going to do those things, regardless of changes to the regulations.

Got really excited about this as I'm on day 6 of isolation now and thought I might get out of this for Christmas Day. But LFT is still faint positive so looks like Christmas dinner on my lap in the spare room it is

@OnGoldenPond

Got really excited about this as I'm on day 6 of isolation now and thought I might get out of this for Christmas Day. But LFT is still faint positive so looks like Christmas dinner on my lap in the spare room it is

Surely you’ve got another two more days for the LFT to turn negative? If you get a negative Xmas Eve morning and it’s still negative on Xmas Day you should be ok?

Also when you say ‘spare room’ it sounds like you are isolating from the rest of your household? While that might be advisable it’s not essential.

The rest of the family insist I stay isolated from them until I have had two full days of negative LFTs. So if it's still even faintly positive tomorrow morning I'm stuck until Boxing Day at the earliest.

I know the law doesn't force me to isolate from other people I live with but they are all insistent I do it as they don't want to catch it so no choice really. I can understand they don't want their plans spoiled but it is hard

Why is day one the day after? And not the day?

That's how they have interpreted the rules

@OnGoldenPond

Got really excited about this as I'm on day 6 of isolation now and thought I might get out of this for Christmas Day. But LFT is still faint positive so looks like Christmas dinner on my lap in the spare room it is

You still have 2 days to test and could still be negative on Xmas eve...fingers crossed for you

I was excited too but still have a strong positive line today. I’m not entirely sure when my day 1 was; I had my booster and horrible side effects merged into a positive lft 4 days later. Do the lines always gradually get lighter, or can they suddenly disappear? Living in hope here….

@Bubblty

Why is day one the day after? And not the day?

Because it has to be full days of isolation.

It’s on the NHS and Gov websites.

@Tippexy thank you. Apologies I could have googled but I never know if what I am looking at is current or out of date.

@FriesWithThat

The rest of the family insist I stay isolated from them until I have had two full days of negative LFTs. So if it's still even faintly positive tomorrow morning I'm stuck until Boxing Day at the earliest.

I know the law doesn't force me to isolate from other people I live with but they are all insistent I do it as they don't want to catch it so no choice really. I can understand they don't want their plans spoiled but it is hard

Can you all celebrate on Boxing Day instead?

@containsnuts

Odd timeing when we know so little about omicron. The obvious consequence is that few will bother doing PCRs or formally log their infection. We'll loose track of symptoms, reinfections, variants, booster efficacy etc as people will just decide for themselves whether it's worth reporting or ignoring.

The testing makes perfect sense.

Encourage people with symptoms to test as they will have to isolate for a shorter time.

Simultaneously reduce the staffing issues caused by masses of cases, in most cases people are fine to go back to work after 7 days.

It has been seven days in France since a long time.

Urgh to people isolating alone in a room in their own home on Christmas Day. How horrible. Nobody should be treated like that by their own family.

@littlepeas

Urgh to people isolating alone in a room in their own home on Christmas Day. How horrible. Nobody should be treated like that by their own family.

Agree

@littlepeas

Urgh to people isolating alone in a room in their own home on Christmas Day. How horrible. Nobody should be treated like that by their own family.

It depends on the family. In our case, I live with CEV family members. I don't want to put the immunocompromised people who are likely to be much more severly affected than me at unnecessary risk. I'm happy with dinner in my room and a Zoom board game. What I'll miss most is going to Mass, but I'm still hoping to test negative before then.