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Original poster

Stop overusing lateral flow tests!

493 replies

musicalfrog · 29/12/2021 00:35

How many posts on this forum say "ooh I tested twice yesterday", or "ooh I'm waiting for a pcr result but still taking a lateral flow every day"...

Have some fucking thought for the expense to the taxpayer of all these tests, and the poor folk who are struggling to get a supply of tests to keep their loved ones safe while you fritter them away without a second thought.

You DON'T need to take more than one test a day, you DON'T need to keep testing while waiting a pcr result (you should be isolating) and you DON'T need to be testing every day unless you're a close contact.

Over consumption is killing this planet, these are prime examples.

OP posts:
Thread gallery
6
freckles20 · 29/12/2021 07:57

@Imdreamingofapeacefulxmas

Op turn on the government and suppliers not innocent people trying to see family and friends and testing and being sensible. This happened early on in the pandemic when pcr tests were hard to get. People turned on each other for booking them. Plenty do not test at all, plenty don't. In the midst of a pandemic I can't get hot about people testing.
Yes, exactly this.

@musicalfrog, I'm sorry that you are struggling to get any LFT. But it is unfair to claim that this is due to people being selfish and testing unnecessary, or that people are hoarding tests.
Do you have any financial savings? Are you hoarding them for a rainy day? How selfish of you- some people have no money saved.

ExPatHereForAChat · 29/12/2021 07:57

Agree OP.

They charge a fiver per test in Ireland. While this may not be the best solution I'm guessing you wouldn't get any of the "Here are today's 5 tests, they're all positive, do I have COVID?" idiocy.

RampantIvy · 29/12/2021 07:59

I hope that one day a simply breath test could be developed to ascertain whether someone has covid or not.

RosieLemonade · 29/12/2021 07:59

@plinkplinkfizzer

I have never in the years i have been here seen anyone complaining about the plastic waste of pregnancy tests , and yet posters use dozens of them . Anyway I would rather see plastic in landfill than bodies in the ground , especially mine .
Hardly any pregnancy tests are encased in plastic? Most frequent testers use the strips.
Exhausteddog · 29/12/2021 07:59

@Boofay

We are in a similar position in that we stayed with a family member overnight and (prompted by another family member) they took a test the next day and tested positive. Its spoilt other plans we had but that was always a risk this Xmas. I don't blame the family member but we will need to do lfts every day which is 4 boxes.

MarshmallowFondant · 29/12/2021 08:00

We pay via taxes

Obviously. Which is why I wrote that there is a PERCEPTION that they are "free".

Quite clearly they are not free. Nothing is free. But when you order a box or pick up a box you are not asked for cash.

SisterAgatha · 29/12/2021 08:01

To be fair, if I had tested people before letting them in to my house id not be the house that Covid built, right now.

Close contact.
Test everyday for 7 days.
DS 1 fell on day 7.
So another close contact.
Test everyday for another 7 days.
DH fell on day 5 of that.
Test everyday for another 7 days.

All avoidable if contact 1 had been testing everyday.

neveradullmoment99 · 29/12/2021 08:04

@JustLikeaJingleBell

So OP can't get hold of a LFT so comes onto MN to abuse us all.

Charming Confused

This. Your attitude stinks.

How dare you come on here and dictate if people are worthy of using lateral.flows.
In Scotland we have been told to test whenever we leave the house.
Get over yourself OP

EvilPea · 29/12/2021 08:04

With 100,000 cases a day. That’s potentially a lot of households who are being told they have to test daily / each day they go out.

I do hear what your saying, but Is it overuse if it’s what your being told to do

gettingolderandgrumpy · 29/12/2021 08:04

Agreed you don’t need to take more than 1 test a day even daily is excessive imo . Twice a week should be enough imo .

Thatsplentyjack · 29/12/2021 08:05

@AllThingsServeTheBeam

We're all testing daily at the minute as I have an operation on NYE. I'll carry on as I am thanks.
Wouldn't ot be better to isolate before your op. Lf tests don't stop you catching covid Confused
Randommother · 29/12/2021 08:05

In some cases people need to test more than once in a day. A few weeks ago a close relative of mine tested in the morning (negative) before going out shopping, but felt unwell in the afternoon so tested again (positive). There is also an argument for daily testing, depending on your plans for the day - I tested Christmas Day as I was seeing my mum, and again on Boxing Day to see my MIL. I tested yesterday as I was travelling to stay overnight with a friend and tested this morning as we are travelling on to a holiday house with other friends. There are also people with health anxiety who want the reassurance of a negative test. I agree there is a need to be sensible over the use of tests, but I wouldn’t judge someone for using a LFT if they feel it’s needed.

Covidclaire · 29/12/2021 08:07

OP I think you just need to try harder to get hold of tests, then you might not be such an angry person.

Not sure what you’re doing but I’ve never had a problem getting hold of tests via the home delivery service.

lightisnotwhite · 29/12/2021 08:09

@Imdreamingofapeacefulxmas

Op turn on the government and suppliers not innocent people trying to see family and friends and testing and being sensible. This happened early on in the pandemic when pcr tests were hard to get. People turned on each other for booking them. Plenty do not test at all, plenty don't. In the midst of a pandemic I can't get hot about people testing.
That’s a cop out.

Everyone can see the waste the free LFT’s incur. At the beginning obviously this mattered less than getting deaths down. They don’t even seem to work well.

venusmay · 29/12/2021 08:10

Yes, very annoying post from the OP considering government advice about doing tests if you are living with someone with Covid. Sensibly we are asked to test. As pretty much every household recently has been infected or is currently infected people need to test!!!

Stormwhale · 29/12/2021 08:10

There are plenty of us who are using them responsibly too. We have only tested immediately before seeing vulnerable elderly relatives and then before seeing my brother who is immunocompromised. That's it.

Managed to order more tests online this morning for the first time in weeks so we can make sure dd is negative before she returns to school.

I dont actually know anyone who is going bonkers with the tests. All dds school friends who have covid only tested when they already felt off sorts and all my family have done the same as us before the family events.

Fleur405 · 29/12/2021 08:11

@SonicBroom

So I test most days as advised to and because it’s the responsible thing to do when the variant is highly transmissible and an LFT is the only way you will know you have it before you do develop symptoms/if you are asymptotic

@Fleur405 but is it the responsible thing to do, when your testing everyday means that others cannot get tests at all and could need them for much more significant reasons than, for example, going to the shops? I think that’s what the OP is asking.

Whilst we’d all like the supply to be sufficient for everyone to do what you’re doing, quite honestly it is wasteful, especially as with examples such as going to the shops, which is really where there is very very low transmissible risk and proper mask wearing can also help to mitigate some of the risk. I mean, unless Scotland is producing its own supply of tests just for people in Scotland, which if it were to happen the other way round there’d be uproar, it would seem quite excessive when there’s a shortage countrywide.

I’m a Scot living in England, and many of my friends and family back home are of the view that a lot of what they’re being asked to do is unsubstantiated and more intended to claw some kind of moral superiority over England for political gain than actually make a difference to numbers. The point being I don’t think it is making a difference to overall numbers is it?

It does get to the heart of what the OP is saying, which is that the priority right now is that everyone should be able to get what they need, and that the only way for that to happen whilst there’s a shortage of supply, is for people to moderate their use.

All I know is (1) the nations clinical director for Scotland who is a doctor recommends doing an LFT before going out and as a result I do so and assume he says that for public health reasons and not for political gain. Should they change that advice I will change my practice.
venusmay · 29/12/2021 08:11

And for those of you talking about 'waste' address the government. We are all just doing what needs to be done! No one enjoys taking tests!

Lesserspottedmama · 29/12/2021 08:12

Never used one, never will. Stop the madness.

Covidclaire · 29/12/2021 08:13

In fact I’ve just ordered another pack. I really don’t underhand any you can’t get hold of them.

Wouldn't ot be better to isolate before your op. Lf tests don't stop you catching covid

You really can’t understand why someone wouldn’t be anxious about that and testing frequently beforehand? Maybe the whole household can’t isolate because some of them need to work?

Boofay · 29/12/2021 08:14

[quote Exhausteddog]@Boofay

We are in a similar position in that we stayed with a family member overnight and (prompted by another family member) they took a test the next day and tested positive. Its spoilt other plans we had but that was always a risk this Xmas. I don't blame the family member but we will need to do lfts every day which is 4 boxes.[/quote]

I totally blame our family member for the predicament we're in now. Luckily he's triple jabbed so hopefully won't be poorly, and they've had to cancel a post Christmas holiday so I'm sad that bil's family are missing out and potentially going to get unwell, but if he had just told my husband and I that he was a close contact, we could have stayed away, met outside, socially distanced, ventilated better, worn masks etc etc. Mitigation measures that could have taken place had we have known he was a close contact.
My husband and I are both self employed and my business can't run if any of my family are positive, so I find it very inconsiderate that someone has neglected to tell us of the potential risk. I know we can't eliminate all risks, but we could have minimised it. I'm kicking myself for not putting those measures in place anyway. Anyway, massive derail on my part! Apologies!

But to link it back to the thread, the selfish people are the ones not declaring they're a close contact and hanging around people, not the ones testing and trying to keep others safe. We'd be saving 42 lfts from being used if we hadn't spent time with a close contact unknowingly.

Anyway, I might be a tad bitter and fixated! I need to let it go! 😂

WouldBeGood · 29/12/2021 08:15

I’m a Scot and think it’s very much political up here. They are bonkers, as is this testing malarkey. Comfort blanket for the anxious.

Kotatsu · 29/12/2021 08:15

Because I pay for them (down to 3 quid if you buy the multi-pack in Aldi) I only test if symptoms, or if I'm going somewhere - eg. tested before we flew to UK for Christmas, will test before I go shopping today as it's been 5 days since we had contact with my brother (who works in a supermarket, so couldn't isolate before Christmas).

If there was an outbreak at school, or I was a close contact, I might test every day, but I'd be more likely to wait 5 days to start unless I needed to do something - but then isolating isn't too hard for me as I work from home.

Siameasy · 29/12/2021 08:15

Agree. But it is the latest hobby for some people so don’t deprive them of their fun.
When we are charged for tests the moralising will stop

May I then suggest a new way to moralise:

“Won’t someone please think of the poor who cannot afford to buy tests and are being condemned to death”

rrhuth · 29/12/2021 08:16

@Pixxie7

I have to question the reliability of them anyway, my daughter was having my 92 year old mother over for lunch so she did a test prior to going which was negative. Two days later she was positive and now awaiting her pcr results.
Is this serious?

Every person on the planet who has had covid was negative before they became positive Grin