The Covid case numbers are falling because we were told not to get a PCR anymore, right?

[Habbyhadno]

Are the cases really falling off a cliff because we've been told to lateral flow and not go for a PCR and people aren't reporting the result?
Personally this weekend and today have been the worse I've experienced for Covid numbers, we all have it and 80% of our friends and their kids have it (not caught from each other as I haven't seen them for months). The school emailed today to say that it has been the worst day for Covid absences since the start of the pandemic.
Is this the case nationwide or are we just in a hot spot this week?

Don't know anyone who has it at the moment. Knew a lot over Christmas.

I think it's been going down here since Christmas
You should be reporting lateral flow tests on Gov.uk so case figures would still be recorded. Unfortunately it seems that many of the public are happy to take the government funded tests but can't be arsed to report the results

Yes, absolutely.

Something like 95% of LFTs aren’t reported, either.

twitter.com/jburnmurdoch/status/1483062311971704833?ref_src=twsrc%5Egoogle%7Ctwcamp%5Eserp%7Ctwgr%5Etweet

FT stats expert on why he thinks the drop is real (overall, at UK level - there will be regional differences of course)

@Habbyhadno

Are the cases really falling off a cliff because we've been told to lateral flow and not go for a PCR and people aren't reporting the result? Personally this weekend and today have been the worse I've experienced for Covid numbers, we all have it and 80% of our friends and their kids have it (not caught from each other as I haven't seen them for months). The school emailed today to say that it has been the worst day for Covid absences since the start of the pandemic. Is this the case nationwide or are we just in a hot spot this week?

You should still post your lateral flow result to the NHS website.

@Woffle

Yes, absolutely.

Something like 95% of LFTs aren’t reported, either.

They'd be mainly negative tests...

No, the ONS survey data also shows cases are falling.

Is this the case nationwide or are we just in a hot spot this week?

My DDs high school was a hotspot in October, my DSs primary in early December... My nieces, late June... Difference schools, different times. You can't infer much at all from a single school.

I keep seeing these headlines and I don't believe cases are falling. We've been told we don't need a PCR test now if we test positive on LFT and I can imagine not everybody reports their positive LFTs.

We have covid in the house at the moment and there are huge numbers with it at both my children's school and the school I work at. I've never known anything like it!

Kittycat24

Conversely I only know a couple of people with it. Surely it varies massively by region?

I believe so, I know if one household of 6 a positive at the same time and only 1 reported their lft on the government website.

Our entire household of four has it. Fun times. All displaying different symptoms. 😔

Here in Ireland we have a similar set up as you. Our numbers halved in a couple of days. Gov all delighted with themselves and are talking about getting rid of rest of restrictions next week. 😂 Yeah cos no one is testing.

We can't do PCR unless over 40 years. Everyone to do LFT and report positive test to HSE. Sure look, no one's doing that because it means they'll have to isolate for 5 days.

We know so many people now with it, and my 11 year old son now has it too. BJ wants herd immunity and is his guiding the numbers by doing mass testing first then dropping the testing significantly, IMO.

Is disguising, that should say

Fewer tests, fewer positives..

Hospitalisations look to have levelled off though which is good.

Family of four here and we are just getting over it now too. Had it in the house last week.

No it's because more people are getting the booster

@PatriciaHolm thank you, this is exactly what I was looking for

My kid's nursery is currently closed because of 15 cases. This is the worst outbreak we've had so far. That said, all the people that have it are well, in the future they'd be carrying on as normal as we do for colds.

What makes you think someone who can be bothered to book and go for a PCR after an LFT (which they have registered in order to get the PCR) wouldn’t be bothered reporting a positive LFT?

I think the only meaningful change we will see is people isolating for less time as they may edit their own symptoms/LFT date. Most of those people will still take LFT’s before going out though so it shouldn’t impact spread

Depends where you are regionally.
Near me there were loads people had it over new year but I only know 1 household with it now.
Schools been back for over a week but numbers haven't shot up as everyone's just had covid!

Before christmas I didn’t know anyone who had had covid.

After Christmas, and especially the last week, it’s exploded around me. Even me and Dh.

It is definitely going down round here because everyone had it in December.

That said I agree with you the overall numbers will definitely go down if less of us need pcrs, can’t see many people going to the trouble or logging an lft.

I suppose hospitalisations are key and those numbers are also going down which is good

But yeah less testing is a convenient way of pretending numbers are going down whether they actually are or not

They began to drop when we couldn't get tests they continued to drop when you no longer need to pcr

Keep an eye on the hospital admissions as long as they are dropping we are coming out the other side