Tested positive 8 days after symptoms started

[CantStartaFireWithoutaSpark]

Hi there,
Last Saturday, 7 days ago DH tested positive. He had mild symptoms, which progressed to a head cold and all the usual omicron symptoms. Only today (Saturday) has his first negative showed up.
8 days ago, on the Friday, I started having symptoms, nausea, headaches, head cold, during the week a mild cough developed and a runny nose. I tested negative every single day.
DS had a temperature last Friday night, head cold developed by Sunday, runny nose etc, which he still has. He has tested negative every single day for 7 days.
Today both DD and I have tested positive. 8 days after initial symptoms.
We’ve been isolating all week, under the assumption we had it, but, now the test has just come up positive for both of us, do we need to start our isolation again?
I’m devastated, I start a new job this Week, I thought I was out of the worst of it.
New job is WFH, but DS needs to go to nursery

Your 10 day isolation starts when your symptoms start. Doesn't matter that you have only just tested positive. You count day 1 as first day of symptoms

That's not correct. The first day of symptoms is actually day 0. I know because up until I caught covid myself this week I had to fill in the daily covid return at school - this is how we are instructed to calculate the ten days (and day 5 and 6).

Ok so if the OP got a PCR today, which came back positive (which it would) then the rules are she isolates from the day her symptoms started.

She is isolating. PCR would be totally pointless. It would make no difference to the actions she has and is taking.

In these circumstances I wouldn't have got a PCR. It would be pointless. The only reason the OP might have needed a PCR would be if she didn't have symptoms and wanted to go out and about. That's not the case here.

Your actions are faultless OP.

Thank you those with kind messages.

Register your LFT on the government website, Test and Trace will get in touch with you, you can talk through the circumstances and they will work out your isolation period.

Sorry @Feenie you are right on that Symptoms starting is day 0.

And what if your symptoms were caused by something other than covid, and you've not actually picked up the covid from your husband until day 5 or 6 (which is very common in household transmission)?

My mum had a cold last weekend (no cough or fever) but all tests were negative. She assumed when my niece (who lives with them) tested positive a couple of days later she must have had covid and the tests were wrong. Actually she tested positive for covid 3 days after my niece, by that evening she was struggling to get out of bed with symptomatic covid. As you didn't take a PCR test, unfortunately I think you'd be advised by 119 that you have to start isolation again. How do you know you didn't have a cold last week and covid this week?

As someone else has said what if it wasn't covid before and you have caught it from your husband? I personally would isolate from the day you got your positive test, but I am very careful as I care for a vulnerable person.

@Opihr yes, doing this.
@FruitToast as my DH tested positive last Saturday with only tiredness as his complaint at the point. Where DS had temperature, watery eyes and I was incredibly nauseas, cold and shaker, really weak. DS got a runny nose on Sunday, so did I.

We've just had similar. Me and DH ill at the same time but he took a few days longer than me to get a positive- but started isolating anyway. It hasn't taken him 8 days to get a positive but t&t have confirmed his isolation period started the day of symptoms, same as me. We expect he will now have to wait out the full isolation period whereas I may be able to test and leave early.

Register your LTF online and it will tell you your isolation dates.

Your LFTs were negative for days, so why would you assume you were positive? You can retrospectively assume you can covid, just so you can leave isolation.

@kittensinthekitchen

Your LFTs were negative for days, so why would you assume you were positive? You can retrospectively assume you can covid, just so you can leave isolation.

Yes you can. When you book a PCR it asks when the symptoms started. When you get a result you can leave isolation from the date the symptoms started or when you got a positive result, whichever is soonest

As in the count down starts from symptoms if that's sooner.

I thought they only backdated the symptoms for a maximum amount of days but not sure how many that is e.g. maximum might be 5 days rather than 8 days.

T&T should be able to advise

You're required to do a PCR if you have symptoms of high temperature, new continuous cough, loss of sense of taste or smell. Otherwise it's a LFT. Then the first day of symptoms is day zero...

Sympathies. We have Covid running through the family and find the new rules very difficult to understand. Clearly we are stupid compared to all the Covid experts on mumsnet!

We also learnt that one of the home lateral flow tests seems to be more sensitive to Omicron than the other, which isn't helping the situation.

Just use your own common sense and decide when you feel it is safe to others for you to go out. People on the internet won't be a good judge of whether you've had Covid for 1 day or 8 days.

Just to add when we had covid at Christmas dh didn't test positive on a ltf till three days after his symptoms started (at the time he thought it was a hangover but in hindsight could've been start of covid) but his ltfs stayed positive for 8 days from testing - so if he had gone by symptoms he would have left isolation too early.
I would be tempted to count back a couple of days but you'll have to do ltfs and If still strong lines in a few days you'll have to assume you have only just started with covid now and had something else last week but if they start to go faint in a couple of days you're probably right thinking it was covid but took a while to detect

Am I right in thinking ds has been negative all the way through? If so I'd maybe pcr ds to be on safe side and if negative send to nursery and dh should be out of isolation to do nursery drop offs

You only have to do a PCR if you have the three main symptoms which you don't appear to have had.

When you get contacted by test and trace you can put in when your symptoms first started, this will determine your isolation time

I think people (including me) are coming across as harsh as we are frustrated that nearly 2 years into this and some people still don't seem to understand the rules on testing.

Cuwins neither do you apparently

First day of symptoms day zero. People can test positive up to 90 days after in any case.
I’ve had it already but when I inevitably get it again (DD has it) I will be counting the smallest symptom as day zero and will not be registering my results as they will not leave you alone. You will get phone calls at 7am etc.

@Siameasy

First day of symptoms day zero. People can test positive up to 90 days after in any case. I’ve had it already but when I inevitably get it again (DD has it) I will be counting the smallest symptom as day zero and will not be registering my results as they will not leave you alone. You will get phone calls at 7am etc.

Yes I haven't registered my results for this very reason, I don't want to be harassed by test and trace. I'm isolating and have told everyone I've been in contact with. There's no actual legal requirement to do so, as with the usual government wishy washy instructions it's all guidance.

Tests and isolating are being scrapped in March

Isolate 7 days after symptoms began and a little more if you can
If you cant, then so be it …

You havent done anything wrong OP
This is Mumsnet
Alot of People on here have views that iv never seen in real life 🙈😂

You isolate from the days symptoms started. This is what test and trace told me when I was positive in December.

Mine was only 1 day out as I got symptoms in the afternoon and just booked a PCR for the next day. Didn't bother to with LFT as DH was positive so I knew I had it. Had been isolating as a family anyway.