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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:
JuergenSchwarzwald · 21/01/2022 10:08

I think something needs to happen. Both my employer and my husband's employer are saying "please come back to the office but do LFTs before you come in".

No. If they want them done, they should pay to provide them for staff.

Not sure why the OP is getting such a roasting on here but MN has gone a bit loopy this week.

Original poster
CautiousOptimist11 · 21/01/2022 10:09

@movelikewater my plan precisely

OP posts:
Viviennemary · 21/01/2022 10:09

Stop being ridiculous.

echt · 21/01/2022 10:10

@JuergenSchwarzwald

I think something needs to happen. Both my employer and my husband's employer are saying "please come back to the office but do LFTs before you come in".

No. If they want them done, they should pay to provide them for staff.

Not sure why the OP is getting such a roasting on here but MN has gone a bit loopy this week.

Duh.

You have said your employer should pay.

OP has said everyone should pay.

Regularsizedrudy · 21/01/2022 10:14

Great idea! Why stop there? Why not charge for ALL medicine, hopefully kill off a few of those pesky plastic wasting poor people! Yuck! Hmm

Wizzbangfizz · 21/01/2022 10:14

The day can't come soon enough to end this ridiculous and wasteful practice.

Emerald5hamrock · 21/01/2022 10:15

Yabu.
It wouldn't matter if they cost money, people still rely on them, they cost money in Ireland and are regularly sold out.
School only introduced free LFT December 2021.
All charges do is financially burden citizens.

echt · 21/01/2022 10:16

[quote CautiousOptimist11]@movelikewater my plan precisely[/quote]
So if your plan is to test when you see fit, why the fuck are you sticking your beak in to everyone's else's business, with your recommendations for action?

You still haven't said can you afford tests.

echt · 21/01/2022 10:17

@Wizzbangfizz

The day can't come soon enough to end this ridiculous and wasteful practice.
How is it ridiculous? how wasteful? do explain.
Wizzbangfizz · 21/01/2022 10:17

normality likely to include tests, social distancing and masks

Did you not see the announcement the other day?

echt · 21/01/2022 10:19

@Wizzbangfizz

normality likely to include tests, social distancing and masks

Did you not see the announcement the other day?

Not sure which announcement you mean. Do tell.
WonderfulYou · 21/01/2022 10:19

Goodness me. I was venting and should have expected this. I have read all the replies and am relieved that a minority understand.

Why do people start threads and then get annoyed if the majority don’t share their opinion.

Any test that shows whether you have a transmissible disease is a good thing.
I would hope those who have unprotected sex get themselves checked for STIs so they don’t risk spreading it around.

I understand wanting to get rid of the isolation period for those who’ve been in contact with a positive case but surely isolating if you’re positive is a good thing. Like other viruses eg chicken pox you take a couple of days off school/work and then go bs k to normal.

Lilifer · 21/01/2022 10:20

@echt

This is seriously edging into 'don't leave your house because you might get run over, or mugged, or any other of the many everyday risks we live with' territory. We can't live our lives on ifs and buts. A cold is not 'not serious' for everyone. There are many generally mild illnesses that are more serious for the vulnerable. It's not a reason to not try and get back to some form of normality

And the normality is very likely to include testing, masking and social distancing.

www.google.co.uk/amp/s/news.sky.com/story/amp/covid-19-working-from-home-covid-passports-and-mask-wearing-to-go-as-england-plan-b-rules-to-be-lifted-12519897

Hope this helps 😊

cherryonthecakes · 21/01/2022 10:22

@Wizzbangfizz

The day can't come soon enough to end this ridiculous and wasteful practice.
Hospital admissions create more environmental waste and even though Omicron is milder, some people are being admitted with it or catch it in hospital.
echt · 21/01/2022 10:22

That is not the point the posters was making.

Hope this helps.

SmashingBIouse · 21/01/2022 10:22

@Wizzbangfizz

The day can't come soon enough to end this ridiculous and wasteful practice.
Yes, because protecting vulnerable people is so ridiculous and wasteful.
saleorbouy · 21/01/2022 10:23

Not in the U.K and have paid for the LFT in most cases, at around £2.50 it's hardly going to break the bank for most people especially if the result is dependent upon going to earn a wage or not. Admittedly were not shoving them up out nostrils daily though!
Thank your lucky stars for the NHS that many are happy to moan about at every opportunity. A GP appointment is €60 and then the prescribed drugs extra here.

WhosThatBehindTheFlask · 21/01/2022 10:23

Whatever you think of LFTs and current covid guidelines (if there are any left), being angry at people who have spent 2 years living through, what for many is, the biggest medical, mental, emotional and financial upheaval of their lives and belittling them for not just being able to turn off 'The Fear' like a light switch is not on.

Regardless of whether LFTs are given away or not, I don't suppose anyone will be using them in years to come - they wil gradually fade on their own (assuming there isn't another twist in the tale of the pandemic).

Merryhobnobs · 21/01/2022 10:24

I won't be comfortable visiting my vulnerable (NOT ELDERLY) Dad. Or my friend who manages care homes. This pandemic has just highlighted how much some people think those who are vulnerable are worthless. Guess what you can be vulnerable and still live a full working life - not that it matters, even those who are not capable of work, young, old whatever they don't deserve to be consigned to either being locked up or flung on the scrapheap. Plus you know actually well and healthy people have become very ill - the long term impacts of long covid sound horrific. And I have family abroad who will likely be unable to travel to UK if all restrictions and testing are stopped.

Wizzbangfizz · 21/01/2022 10:25

Because they cost an absolute bomb to the taxpayer, people are taking the piss with them as they are free, they are disastrous for the environment - we don't perpetually test for other endemic diseases - I could go on?

Masks are largely gone, plan b restrictions lifted - happy days.

@SmashingBIouse the vaccine does that.

greentea5 · 21/01/2022 10:26

@flippertyop

Yes they should be paid for now. If required by school or work they should be provided by that institution. It's a ridiculous waste of tax payers money
So would schools then have to pay for covid tests? How many of them have the budget to do that?

Also, how many workplaces would absorb the costs of buying lfts rather than telling their staff to pay for them?

It seems very strange that so many people are annoyed about the cost of lfts on here. It's been clearly explained how important they are for people who are CV or CEV and their contacts - expecting these people to pay for them themselves would be financially penalising people for being CV or CEV (especially those who are CV and CEV and unable to work). Just like people who don't have children still have their tax go towards education, it's reasonably to expect public funds to continue to fund free lfts even if we move to a situation where only CV and CEV people and their contacts use them.

The other response seems to be "what did CV and CEV people do before covid". Just because we don't have tests for people who are asymptomatic with other illness doesn't mean that we should stop allowing free access to asymptomatic tests for covid.

unim · 21/01/2022 10:27

Sorry, are you suggesting it's ok to not take preventative measures to protect people who are vulnerable? Lovely!

Why don't we just stop spending all that useless money on vaccinations against polio, diptheria and whooping cough too? Just let the few who die, die...

Right?

SmashingBIouse · 21/01/2022 10:28

Not in the U.K and have paid for the LFT in most cases, at around £2.50 it's hardly going to break the bank for most people

It is if you're on a low income and have to test daily, and live with people who also have to test several times a week. I wouldn't be able to afford it.

WeAreTheHeroes · 21/01/2022 10:28

What do you mean by "people are taking the piss with them"?

A pack of lfts costs €24.99 in Ireland as an example.

echt · 21/01/2022 10:28

@WhosThatBehindTheFlask

Whatever you think of LFTs and current covid guidelines (if there are any left), being angry at people who have spent 2 years living through, what for many is, the biggest medical, mental, emotional and financial upheaval of their lives and belittling them for not just being able to turn off 'The Fear' like a light switch is not on.

Regardless of whether LFTs are given away or not, I don't suppose anyone will be using them in years to come - they wil gradually fade on their own (assuming there isn't another twist in the tale of the pandemic).

Excellent post. Especially the bit about unexpected twists. I speak as one who has yet to locate a RAT, so I don't even know what they look like. (Please don't some dozy fucker poster send me a pic, I'm making point about how it is in Melbourne)