Covid questions

[Worriedmum40284]

I had some friends over this morning - did a LFT before they arrived which was negative. Had a phone call after they left to say DM (who I saw yesterday) has had positive LFT today.

Feel awful that I might have passed something onto friends but not sure how likely that would be with a negative LFT?

Also, do LFT or PCR tests show a positive earlier?

Finally, DM had contact with a positive case last Thursday. Is that likely where she caught it? She has LFT daily since and all negative until today so wondered if a more recent contact was more likely?

TIA for any responses, my mind is a bit all over the place.

The Independent and other news sites are reporting Omicron incubation (time from exposure to symptoms) is 3-5 days, a bit less than Delta, so your DM likely got it somewhere she's been in the last week. I guess the positive case is likely but of course you can never be sure.

That's interesting, thank you @SmallestInTheClass. She said she's not really been anywhere else but seems unlikely that it was the contact over 7 days ago in that case.

Another silly question, is Delta still circulating alongside Omicron or will it definitely be the latter?

Pcr shows up sooner than lateral flow. So your mum might have been positive for a couple of days before her positive lat flow.

Thank you. Could I therefore have transmitted it to friends this morning, even with a negative LFT?