Day 11 - VERY dark line

[covidQs]

I tested very faintly positive for covid on an LFT on the 18th Jan. I've been asymptomatic throughout.

The line gradually got darker over 2-3 days and has remained a dark line since. I'm now on day 11, release day, and my test remains very dark (see photo).

1. Is the darkness of the line an indicator of how contagious I am (although asymptomatic)?

1. What are other people peoples experience of day 10/11 tests, when you've assumedly test faintly positive very early on?

Oh but care home rules probably make it difficult,very black and white I imagine.

I'm day 10 today positive with a faint line, asymptomatic. My doctor friends say no need to isolate now. I just read guidance that if really concerned, you can isolate up to day 14 but thats it. Admittedly I'm still concerned whether to see family (one has asthma) or partner who I don't live with. However I have to do the school run (children negative since day 7).

inews.co.uk/news/health/covid-test-positive-10-days-what-still-when-self-isolation-end-lateral-flow-result-1394150

Husband had this on day 8 (I think). A really really dark line. Darker than the control. Then back to faint on day 9.

We will be following the rules and setting ourselves free after 10 days.

Neither of us has been very ill. Desperate to get back out there (my day 10 is 31 Jan).

Following with (vested) interest. It’s very frustrating.

Sorry to hear your situation @Sloughsabigplace. Terrible. Not sure why your father can’t use a phone. Is it not something staff could facilitate, or maybe a video call?

@Thiswayorthatway
Are you symptomatic OP? If so you need to self isolate
Again, incorrect. You only continue to isolate if you have a temperature and only get a PCR if you have NEW symptoms. Get your facts correct before posting.

I am still testing very positive on day 15. I suspect it will never go negative!

@MrsPelligrinoPetrichor

Oh but care home rules probably make it difficult,very black and white I imagine.

I imagine they probably are black and white... But if I was highly confident I wasn't infectious (and you surely wouldn't be on day 26), then I'd be inclined to 'fake' a negative test.

My father's serious distress would outweigh any compunction to follow a pointless rule such as this. Rule abiding is generally a good thing, but I think too many have become enslaved by these rules to the point of causing pointless distress.

Have posted this before but posting again in case it puts anyone else’s minds at rest. I assume this is why they say 10 days is safe regardless.

www.thelancet.com/journals/lanmic/article/PIIS2666-5247(20)30172-5/fulltext

“No study detected live virus beyond day 9 of illness, despite persistently high viral loads“

You can have a high viral load which is being picked up on the lft but the virus is dead so not infectious.

@Crackingowlsanctuary

Have posted this before but posting again in case it puts anyone else’s minds at rest. I assume this is why they say 10 days is safe regardless.

www.thelancet.com/journals/lanmic/article/PIIS2666-5247(20)30172-5/fulltext

“No study detected live virus beyond day 9 of illness, despite persistently high viral loads“

You can have a high viral load which is being picked up on the lft but the virus is dead so not infectious.

Thank you so much, this is the sort of information I was after. I feel much less guilty leaving the house now.

I wonder whether because I haven't coughed, sneezed, or needed to blow my nose once the dead virus is just sitting up there.

I'm in a similar situation, still positive on day 16. I spoke to the helpline yesterday and was told I'm fine to leave isolation as long as I haven't had a temperature for over 48 hours.

@treeflowercat they stand over you while you do the test in front of them at the front of the building.

There’s no way to not do it properly.

I’ve exhausted myself trying to fight it. My fathers social worker has even argued on my behalf as she is as frustrated as me and can see his distress is harming him (he won’t give a final decision on something to her without speaking to me first and phone/video calls don’t work for him anymore).

Care home say No.

@UmbilicusProfundus

Following with (vested) interest. It’s very frustrating.

Sorry to hear your situation @Sloughsabigplace. Terrible. Not sure why your father can’t use a phone. Is it not something staff could facilitate, or maybe a video call?

The hospital he was in before the home lost his hearing aids. Every time we’ve made an appoint to take him to get more, the care home has closed due to a covid outbreak or we have had covid.

He has dementia which means that he doesn’t understand video calls - he thinks he’s watching a home video. He has deteriorated over the last few months so much that I don’t think phone calls would work anyway even if he could hear as his sensory processing has all but gone.

Dementia is an evil disease.

I spoke to T&T about this 2 days ago and they advised that you can choose to stay in until day 14. You are also legally able to come out of SI but should wear a mask and definitely avoid crowded spaces inside and practice good social distancing.

Sorry - legally able to come out after 10 days.

@LadyPenelope68
A temperature is a symptom! So we’re both right

I'm the opposite. Have (and still am) tested negative on lfts but got a pcr test because I have symptoms and dd is positive. So I have covid but am obviously annoyingly going to have to isolate for the whole ten days because I can't rely on lateral flow test results. It makes me think they're quite a waste of time tbh.

Only a few people still need to isolate post Day 10. I'm day 16 still testing Patrice and carrying on as normal as per the advice.

OP do you need proof of a negative test before they'll let you see him or will they take your word for it because as far as I can tell you're totally fine to visit.

@Thiswayorthatway
No, the original poster doesn’t have a temperature and you said any symptoms.

Positive - who the hell is Patrice?!

@LadyPenelope68
We’re agreeing with each other, self isolate if you have a temperature 🤒

@ImprobablePuffin i’m not Op bit I think your second question was for me.

You do a LFT at the care home when you arrive for a visit. They stand over you while you do it to make sure you are doing it properly. I’ve been told to bin the swab before and start again because a member of staff didn’t think I had it in far enough.

Then you go and sit in your car (or in a tent in the cold like some of the poor elderly people I’ve see waiting) and they come and tell you if it’s positive or negative hours later.

I know they are short staffed and busy but I’ve waited 3 hours before to be told I’m allowed in.

@Sloughsabigplace

I tested today as I was hoping to see my parent in a care home, I am day …. lost count really but maybe 26? Still a line like that.

I have lost hope of ever testing negative on a LFT.

Which is shit because my father is getting more and more distressed that he’s seen no one, there is only me to visit, can use the phone.

Just glad I tested at home before I drove an hour, took a LFT there, waited up to two hours for them to come and tell me it was positive and that I couldn’t come in.

(I have discussed it with them, they don’t care how long ago my positive PCR was, they just care that the LFT is positive).

You are free after 10 days regardless of lat flow. You are exempt from testing for 90 days I think.

@supercatlady the care home don’t see it that way, unfortunately. Positive test under any circumstance means no entry. My fathers social worker has argued it to the death with them and they won’t budge.

I’ve managed to make a visit appointment for next sunday, so fingers crossed.

Sorry for jumping on here , it seemed like the best place I have found for this question.

For the first person in the household to test positive, after their time is up is there anyway they can pass on the virus if others in the household are now positive?

Can anyone tell me - I felt a scratchy throat on Thursday eve. Then part of Friday. Saturday I had an hour or two of prickly skin on Saturday with sore legs in the evening. Sunday and today (Monday) I've felt completely fine. Only tested positive with a very very faint line yesterday. I didn't even see it at first until I went to throw the test in the bin a few hours later. Today was the same. Very very faint positive. I've had to cough, no temperature or anything. Do I count my isolation from Thursday when I had a scratchy throat, or yesterday when I got the first faint positive?