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Original poster

To be desperate for government to start charging for LFTs

293 replies

CautiousOptimist11 · 21/01/2022 07:32

I'm not sure I can take it any more. The absolute dependency on these tests, the fact that a positive or negative means that all critical thought and common sense fly out the window. Even as the omicron cases get milder, people are still clinging onto these tests and cite their results as a means of explaining their behaviour. A positive test is a dramatic thing to be waved around like you have the plague. A negative absolves you of keeping away from the vulnerable even if circumstances suggest you'd be better off doing so. It's like a religious cult of people who do not understand science medicine or statistics, but believe they have all the knowledge. Dangerous. Just get on with it now people, please. Get on with your lives.

Not even going to get into the hideous, hideous amount of plastic waste created in all of this ....

So, let's start charging and see whether the LFT dependents still shove a stick up their noses at every opportunity

OP posts:
MintJulia · 21/01/2022 08:30

I'm immuno-supressed. I'm a lone mum with a teenager in class. The school test everyone in the class twice a week and are aware of my situation. There is another mum in the same situation.

If someone tests positive, they are asked to learn from home. It's to protect the rest of the pupils, and to protect us. Why is that a problem for you?

The school has done a great job so far, I am very grateful to them.

MintJulia · 21/01/2022 08:31

..suppressed..

ahcmonnow · 21/01/2022 08:31

@Teddybar

I think there should be better control on them, a bit like most NHS services etc some people think because they're free at point of use it's a free for all, but of course we will all be paying for them for many many years/decades to come. I can see their use, but people taking them daily just because, or taking several to make sure is just ludicrous. We are one of the only countries not to charge, and everywhere else seems to be more sensible regarding when they are appropriate- funny that. So I half agree.
This.

People are being foolish and flippant. You can guarantee that if they had to pay for them like Ireland do, they wouldn't be testing like lunatics to make sure the one they did 2 hours ago is still negative. Gobshites.

merrymouse · 21/01/2022 08:31

"Getting on with life" invariably means doing fuck all to mitigate Covid in certain posters. Like the OP.

Yes, it seems to mean sticking your head in the sand.

Lazypuppy · 21/01/2022 08:31

Completely agree OP. Think plan is from May to start charging which to me is too late.

I saw a picture the other day that had a picture of a plastic straw and a lft with the comment, so glad we banned plastic straws! The damage to the environment with the millions of tests is awful to think about, and the cost we are all going to be paying through taxes to pay for these is scary

Lazypuppy · 21/01/2022 08:33

@Tricked2003

My elderly patents live close by and are vulnerable. LFT test have been vital to keeping them safe, teen dc test before visiting as cases are sky high in school. Should we have to pay for the privilege?
Why fo you think anyone else should pay, if you want to test, pay for it! What did you do before covid to keep your vulnerable parents safe?
greenlynx · 21/01/2022 08:34

What a lot of nonsense! You sound like a person who do not understand science medicine or statistics, but believe they have all the knowledge.

UnmentionedElephantDildo · 21/01/2022 08:34

@echt

How does the OP not get that LFTs (and masks, and social distancing by the way) are all ways of getting on with life?

"Getting on with life" invariably means doing fuck all to mitigate Covid in certain posters. Like the OP.

Well put!!

I find that most people realise that. And are really quite keen on masks on public transport, maybe in hospitals, and schools are actually voting with their feet to keep them in place.

And will,p want to test before seeing more vulnerable people (not an event covered by either school/work distribution of tests) - because they are nice people who want to do their bit to help others, not because they're OTT

Best way to learn to live with it is to realise that new variants are inevitable and will sometimes lead to new waves - just look at a heatmap to see how fast and sudden omicron was. That doesn't look good for ever getting on the front foot by being able to predict, as we do with flu, what a dominant strain will be like in time to do anything about updating a vaccine.

So unless we want to risk chaos with every variant (and remember they will vary in severity) we need to be able to use restrictions effectively and withbas light a touch as possible. And that means testing - for if we can't see that cases are rising, we won't notice until it's too late. And that wouid be very bad indeed.

merrymouse · 21/01/2022 08:35

People are being foolish and flippant. You can guarantee that if they had to pay for them like Ireland do, they wouldn't be testing like lunatics to make sure the one they did 2 hours ago is still negative.

Are they?

If you want to make an argument that tests should be restricted to those who need them, fair enough.

The problem is that so many people still need them.

ToykotoLosAngeles · 21/01/2022 08:37

I don't, in general, agree. I test twice a week for work and doing so caught an asymptomatic case in my office.

However I am a bit irritated by 2 family members who are retired, shopping delivered, seeing nobody and only leaving the house for endless National Trust walks, and yet testing every day.

Emmelina · 21/01/2022 08:38

Household of 5 here, one box doesn’t test us all twice. 3 of us have to test at least twice weekly anyway.

Spilltheteaplease · 21/01/2022 08:38

This reply has been deleted

Message deleted by MNHQ. Here's a link to our Talk guidelines.

MarshmallowFondant · 21/01/2022 08:38

Totally agree. We need to get away from the test test test and the "flow before you go" nonsense.

Covid is endemic, it is here to stay. There will be a time where it will be treated as any other illness. If you're mildly ill, you stay at home and self-care. If you're more ill, you go to the GP or hospital. You don't test for it in the same way as we're not testing twice a week to check we don't have flu, or Ebola or anything else.

Some very anxious people clearly have major issues with that.

UnmentionedElephantDildo · 21/01/2022 08:42

Well, when flu is as severe and as fast moving and unpredictable as covid, then perhaps arrangements round it might change.

Comparison to Ebola doesn't stand up, as patients are not infectious before symptoms

Carryonmarion · 21/01/2022 08:44

“people who do not understand science medicine or statistics, but believe they have all the knowledge”

OP I’d be interested to know your qualifications in the area? I work in public health & I know that all evidence points to the fact that effective interventions consider equity of access - charging completely removes this key principle

southeastdweller · 21/01/2022 08:45

Absolutely and I expect it will happen at some point this year as part of the government's plan to force us to live with the virus. There's too much testing going on. I read they've cost us £6 billion so far.

Plantagenous · 21/01/2022 08:46

@MargaretThursday

It's like a religious cult of people who do not understand science medicine or statistics, but believe they have all the knowledge. Dangerous.

The irony...

Yes - the irony. When they stop them they will be bringing them back soon enough I suspect.

No-ones addicted to them. People are using them to manage their lives.

It is a bugger about the plastic waste though and in any other environment they would be considered clinical waste.

Ugzbugz · 21/01/2022 08:48

Online yesterday it said thy cost £30 a box. They also said they will be charged for eventually, self isolation will end, PCR centres will shut down and it will be treated like the flu and we will live with it. Doesn't mean restrictions will never ever return.

But covid 19 isn't going anywhere anytime soon, it could be around for years or forever or until covid 20. We can't have restrictions for every single virus as we have no idea when the next one is.

ilovesooty · 21/01/2022 08:49

[quote hugr]@00100001

But you'd be taking precautions regardless, surely?

Yeah, and one of them is lateral flow tests.[/quote]
Exactly. I'm self employed and I test before face to face meetings with clients and ask them to do the same.

I also, like many other people, test before meeting up with vulnerable people indoors.

That doesn't mean daily testing. I don't see why the OP is "desperate".

ColletteTheLot · 21/01/2022 08:49

I have a perfectly good understanding of the medicine and science, and an excellent understanding of the statistics.

I test before I will be seeing groups of people, especially those who are vulnerable. So YABU for being a patronising twat.

Spilltheteaplease · 21/01/2022 08:51

One thing that does bug me is when people post pictures of 3 or 4 tests to confirm a positive. If there's a line, there's a line.

bounce89 · 21/01/2022 08:51

I have 7 children living in my household and 4 of them have needed to do daily tests due to constant positive cases in their class. It's been the same since they went back to school after Christmas.

If I had to pay for these and the three weekly tests that the others need then it would cost me a fortune...

WhiteCatmas · 21/01/2022 08:52

YABU and a bit of a dick.

EducatingArti · 21/01/2022 08:52

"They'll either be provided by work/school if they require them. As they generally are now."
I work with teenagers and children but I'm self employed. Students go to different schools so Covid peaks can be at different times at different schools. I am trying very hard not to be ill myself and not to pass Covid to my students, partly because of course I do not want anyone to be ill but also because if I or my student is ill then I don't earn any money! I'm addition some parents are not happy about me visiting their homes if I have just been in contact with a Covid positive student, even if I have a negative LFT.
Currently I am asking students to do one of their twice weekly school tests on the day I see them and I also test regularly.
Even if schools give the students LFT for free, I would still have to pay for them and this could be a significant cost to me at a time when I am struggling to earn enough anyway. I hope they continue to be free for a very long time.

Ponoka7 · 21/01/2022 08:53

@Lazypuppy, the point is that a lot of people in care homes wasn't vulnerable to anything that was asymptomatic. I'm ECV, except for Covid, there isn't anything, again asymptomatic that would cause serious illness. Health outcomes are dictated by income, we know this. We also know that the poorest has had the worst health outcomes and highest death rate because of Covid. So if we do charge for LFTs it should be means tested. Perhaps add them to care of the chemist.
You could make the argument that STD testing should be charged based on some of the arguments given for charging for LFTs.
We don't know yet how available PCRs are going to be. I was sent one because I'm ECV. I'll be given the newly advised treatments. We haven't been told if this scheme will continue. Unless we get the full plan we can't say that one change is good. If the aim is to protect health services.
This isn't a flu.

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