To be desperate for government to start charging for LFTs

[CautiousOptimist11]

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

@HopingForMyRainbowBaby

You do realise some of us take them for work?! I need to LFT twice weekly so If you wanna pay for mine, then knock yourself out!!

But soon we won't be. Your employer will have to fork out.

Why should the taxpayer be paying for your tests?

Those mentioning the environmental impact ARE YOU OUT OF YOUR MIND?! The world is on fire. Climate change is reaching the point of being irreversible with devastating consequences for the world’s poor. Plastic waste and carbon emissions are way, way higher from fast fashion, transport, energy use, industry, food production etc. There are literally mountains of clothes dumped abroad unworn. As a tiny example, many on mumsnet use disposable nappies I imagine when alternatives are available. But sure, let’s focus on getting rid of something that can safeguard public health and protect the vulnerable.

Plus do you think that treating someone for illness has no environmental impact?! If I take an lft and prevent the spread of covid I am potentially preventing the much, much higher impact of hospital treatment, even if it’s just a short stay for a mild case.

@TesOignons

Unfortunately I think the gov could use 'fuck the vulnerable' as a slogan and large numbers would still happily vote for them.

Sadly I agree. People still think they’ve done a good job! I hope things work out for you

The most environmentally friendly thing we can do is all die and return to the earth.

So maybe OP is right after all. Just let it rip to save the planet.

Well as I care for my Dad with severe lung disease, for whom Covid would be very dangerous, I was glad to find out that my youngest tested positive last week and I could keep away from my Dad. As a result the whole family have had to test daily, including now my infectious son. So by the end of it we'll have needed about 25 tests. Lots of poor people who really need them would opt not to test so YABVU.

As a matter of interest, did any other country provide them for free? They have never been free in ROI or France for example.

But the point is we don’t need to isolate people with covid anymore. Once it is endemic and most people have some immunity then we switch to treating it like a common cold

It's not endemic yet.

There will be people along to tell me it’s very serious for those with weakened immune systems but so is a common cold and we don’t test and isolate for those either

A cold isn't as serious to immunosuppressed people as covid is. It's also not as contagious as Omicron. And most importantly, the common cold isn't asymptomatic in up to a third of cases.

If I'm to meet a friend, say, and they do an LFT before we meet even though they're asymptomatic and it's positive, we can make the decision not to meet. If LFTs aren't available, that decision is taken out of our hands. The choice we're left with is to either meet and if she does have asymptomatic covid I end up extremely ill, or alternatively not to meet at all.

That's just one theoretical example.

CEV people want to get on with living as much as anyone - for those who have shielded, perhaps even more so. Easily accessible LFTs are one way in which we can do that and offer a better line of defence than vaccines in many ways, seeing as lots of us aren't adequately protected by vaccination.

It's not even necessarily about isolating everyone who has covid - clearly as we move forward that's not sustainable. What it's about is giving CEV people the tools they need so they can manage their risk. Part of that is making free testing available to everyone who requires it.

Why should the taxpayer be paying for your tests?

For the same reason the taxpayer pays for any other test for infectious diseases - to protect public health.

Perhaps not indefinitely, but certainly while cases are high and current vaccines do not offer protection to all and therapeutics are in their infancy.

We pay for healthcare not just to protect ourselves but to protect society as a whole. The 'why should the taxpayer pay to protect vulnerable people' argument is pretty nonsensical and rather offensive tbh.

I do think that people abuse them as they are 'free'. How many tests do you really need to take one after the other because there is a line (and yes threads on here show people do just that). Also why test every day after a positive, just wait until day 5.

I think they should be chargeable just like a prescription is in England.

I hope the LFT costs are free for people on some benefits and I expect there'll be some kind of system in place for this.

Anyone else? Nope. It's time to pay up. They've cost us - yes everyone here who pays tax - £6 billion pounds so far.

This can't go on for much longer, and it won't be.

Why should the taxpayer pay for my chemo? Because my partner and I are taxpayers too. I'll happily pay for your relative's schooling. Maybe someone saved by testing will save someone's life or pay taxes or invent a new zero carbon fuel source.
Even meerkats watch out for each other. Bees self isolate when they're sick, it's a useful advantageous quirk of evolution.

@southeastdweller

I hope the LFT costs are free for people on some benefits and I expect there'll be some kind of system in place for this.

Anyone else? Nope. It's time to pay up. They've cost us - yes everyone here who pays tax - £6 billion pounds so far.

This can't go on for much longer, and it won't be.

What about CEV people? CV people? Those who live with vulnerable people, or work with them, or have loved ones who are vulnerable?

Where do you draw the line - how do you judge who is deserving of protection?

The most environmentally friendly thing we can do is all die and return to the earth.
Banning convenient disposable nappies and menstrual products would really help.

What about CEV people? CV people? Those who live with vulnerable people, or work with them, or have loved ones who are vulnerable?Where do you draw the line - how do you judge who is deserving of protection?

I believe anyone who can afford them should be paying for them (and soon will be).

Why should the taxpayer be paying for your tests

For the same reason the taxpayer pays for your GP, your medical treatment, your children's schooling, your child benefit and your local council services.

Perhaps you go private with absolutely everything or don't have children or , in which case you're well off enough to allow a little of your money to go towards managing a serious public health issue that does actually still cover even rich people.

The fact that Covid affects the rich as well is pretty much why the government has been prepared to pay to handle it.

@AndAnotherNewOne

And the poorest among us who can't afford to pay? What should they do?

This

Get over yourself op

@merrymouse

It's endemic now. It will be managed like the flu is.

It isn’t endemic and it isn’t flu.

Any argument you make is flawed if you are making these false assumptions.

how is it not endemic? It's never going away

I never said it was the flu... I said it will be managed like the flu is manged. Eg yearly immunisations

@southeastdweller

What about CEV people? CV people? Those who live with vulnerable people, or work with them, or have loved ones who are vulnerable?Where do you draw the line - how do you judge who is deserving of protection?

I believe anyone who can afford them should be paying for them (and soon will be).

If that's the case, as a self employed person I expect them to be tax deductible.

You still haven't said how you'd assess eligibility or explained how the cost of them should be covered by employers.

Op. You mention the plastic. Do you use reuseable sanitary products, washable nappies, don’t buy fruit and veg in plastic punnets or ready meals? The amount of plastic in a weeks supply of LFT is far less than we use in many everyday items. It’s also far less than the amount of plastic and energy which is used treating someone with covid in hospital so if it protects people then it is actually reducing energy and plastic consumption

You still haven't said how you'd assess eligibility or explained how the cost of them should be covered by employers.

I don’t have an answer to that, so maybe you should ask someone in the DfWP? My guess is that it’s currently being worked out, as someone said earlier - an article in The Times said the days of free LFTs for all are coming to an end. Leaks to that newspaper are usually very reliable.

I do think there needs to be some kind of system for those that need them and to prevent abuses such as stockpiling. I have a colleague who has been doing this and has no reason for it and is chuffed to bits they have hundreds of them.

@southeastdweller

What about CEV people? CV people? Those who live with vulnerable people, or work with them, or have loved ones who are vulnerable?Where do you draw the line - how do you judge who is deserving of protection?

I believe anyone who can afford them should be paying for them (and soon will be).

Again, where's your cutoff point? How do you judge who can afford them?

My household certainly wouldn't be able to afford the amount we use (seven a week for me, three of four for DH) if they were anything like the prices suggested upthread.

How much do you need to be earning to be deemed able to afford them?

Again, where's your cutoff point? How do you judge who can afford them?

I think that if you pay for medical prescriptions, you should be paying for LFT tests also.

I said it will be managed like the flu is manged. Eg yearly immunisations

@00100001 immunosuppressed people do not gain good protection from vaccinations.

@southeastdweller

Again, where's your cutoff point? How do you judge who can afford them?

I think that if you pay for medical prescriptions, you should be paying for LFT tests also.

Well that means a lot of people won't be paying for them then.