Who's done with routinely testing?

[LifesTooShortYOLO]

A lot of people I've spoken to lately have all said they are done with doing lateral flows twice a week and aren't testing anymore as life needs to get back to normal we can't test for ever.
I have to agree...
Last week we did a random lateral flow on DS 5 as we were aware the school had lots of kids with Covid and it came up positive. He is completely asymptomatic and we wouldn't have know he had it if we hadn't of tested.
It got me thinking, who are the mugs here the people testing and 'looking for something' that otherwise wouldn't be aware was there or the people who are not testing so long as they feel well and carrying on with their life. Ignorance is bliss they say.
I can bet a lot of parents aren't testing their kids at school if they appear well and I can't blame them.
So honestly, if you don't work in healthcare and have to test for your job are you routinely still testing with lateral flows if you feel well??

I work in a school.
Presently I’m off with Covid and the other staff in the same year group have tested positive too. While I don’t know for sure we caught it from school, it’s fairly likely.
Due to the huge numbers of staff being off there is a chance that the year group will close and children who have never had a full year of teaching will miss out on another week of being in school.
Do you see the impact that is having? If everyone was regularly testing then there might have been less staff off and the children would have their teachers in school.

We're not testing, but before Christmas I did wonder if we were doing the right thing.

DD's class was full of it, with about 50% off. We found out afterwards that the threshold for going fully remote was about one more child testing positive.

So we may have contributed to getting very close to that threshold by spreading it asymptomatically. But on the other hand, if we'd tested then we might have been the trigger for the whole class to go remote. That would have been a disaster.

Looking back, I think we did the right thing for DD and her class.

@LifesTooShortYOLO

A lot of people I've spoken to lately have all said they are done with doing lateral flows twice a week and aren't testing anymore as life needs to get back to normal we can't test for ever. I have to agree... Last week we did a random lateral flow on DS 5 as we were aware the school had lots of kids with Covid and it came up positive. He is completely asymptomatic and we wouldn't have know he had it if we hadn't of tested. It got me thinking, who are the mugs here the people testing and 'looking for something' that otherwise wouldn't be aware was there or the people who are not testing so long as they feel well and carrying on with their life. Ignorance is bliss they say. I can bet a lot of parents aren't testing their kids at school if they appear well and I can't blame them. So honestly, if you don't work in healthcare and have to test for your job are you routinely still testing with lateral flows if you feel well??

I'm CEV & people not testing, puts me at a much higher risk of getting seriously unwell/dying with it.

I'm amongst other things diabetic and over 50. Yes, I'm Triple jabbed and take as much care as possible but I still need to have shopping delivered & get petrol etc.

There are people who have cancer etc for whom the vaccines aren't very effective.

I don't see something that takes a couple of minutes is that huge a burden??

We always did things that reduce risk (like wear seatbelts) why is this any different??

aren't testing anymore as life needs to get back to normal we can't test for ever.I have to agree...

Pretending the pandemic isn't over isn't how life gets back to normal, neither is it "living with COVID".

And no, I don't think anyone is suggesting we test "forever"

MN is full of these false dichotomies.

We will get to a point where we can treat coronavirus like 'flu and not bother with testing, but we're not there yet.

@treeflowercat. we DO minimise risk. We get our cars serviced, wear seat belts, sensible people don't drive drunk. Should we stop bothering minimising (not eliminating) risk??

@PriamFarrl

I work in a school. Presently I’m off with Covid and the other staff in the same year group have tested positive too. While I don’t know for sure we caught it from school, it’s fairly likely. Due to the huge numbers of staff being off there is a chance that the year group will close and children who have never had a full year of teaching will miss out on another week of being in school. Do you see the impact that is having? If everyone was regularly testing then there might have been less staff off and the children would have their teachers in school.

And most of those off don't actually need to be, they're isolating, not so ill they need to be off for 5-10 days. The isolation is causing more disruption than the illness.

The idea that testing will stop Covid in schools is deluded. The best it can do is delay it.

I knew that some people have to lft twice a week because of their job or they choose to lft before seeing vulnerable friends/relatives etc but I didn't realise people were just testing twice a week for the sake of it. We've never tested regularly. We might take the odd lateral flow if a few people at work are down with covid or something like that but we've never routinely tested for no reason.

I do twice weekly LFTs for work. Did one last Sunday evening, tues pm, wed am, wed pm, thurs, fri and yesterday....all negative. Did so many coz started a headache and sore throat on Tuesday evening. By Thursday morning work advised a PCR....positive! Full on symptoms since then.

So does that mean that all the lateral flows I've done (could be thousands by now) don't work on me! 🤦🏻‍♀️

[quote JugglingJanuary]@treeflowercat. we DO minimise risk. We get our cars serviced, wear seat belts, sensible people don't drive drunk. Should we stop bothering minimising (not eliminating) risk??[/quote]
No, we don't minimise risk. We manage risk.

If we minimised the risk of car driving, we'd insist that we kept speed limits at 10mph... But clearly we don't because we balance risk and benefits.

It's the same with Covid testing... I'm not against tests per se. I test when before I visit my elderly parents, and if testing prevented transmission in schools and had a net benefit to education, I'd support it, but it seems that school testing doesn't really achieve anything other than stretching the period over which Covid waves impact into schools, extending the disruption rather than stopping it, and preventing a whole load of otherwise healthy children from accessing education whilst they isolate.

@leafyygreens

And no, I don't think anyone is suggesting we test "forever"

MN is full of these false dichotomies.

We will get to a point where we can treat coronavirus like 'flu and not bother with testing, but we're not there yet.

I'm there. I'll test again when I get full pay if I have to isolate.

@CafeCremeMerci it's a huge burden for people who don't get paid for isolating and can't afford to have time off work when they're asymptomatic.

@Wowwellokthen

I do twice weekly LFTs for work. Did one last Sunday evening, tues pm, wed am, wed pm, thurs, fri and yesterday....all negative. Did so many coz started a headache and sore throat on Tuesday evening. By Thursday morning work advised a PCR....positive! Full on symptoms since then.

So does that mean that all the lateral flows I've done (could be thousands by now) don't work on me! 🤦🏻‍♀️

I've had a headache and sore throat for over a week, lateral flow tests all negative. But I've not done a PCR as no other symptoms.

I test myself twice weekly for work and have been tested dd2 as covid cases are high in her school. DH and dd1 had it in November so they aren't testing. DH is still suffering effects from it now and hasn't been right since having it, so just because many are ok you never know if you are one of the unlucky ones that will have ongoing problems. He has breathing issues, still can't taste/smell properly and sleep problems.

I'm there. I'll test again when I get full pay if I have to isolate.

Yep I agree with this and have said as much on many threads.

@leafyygreens

I'm there. I'll test again when I get full pay if I have to isolate.

Yep I agree with this and have said as much on many threads.

It's the unfortunate issue of why so many aren't testing. I'm not testing because every time I or DS test positive I have to stay home. I am a single parent, on a low wage, DS is 8 so can't stay home on his own. I had to have 16 days off last year when we both had Covid subsequently. I can't afford to keep doing it.

Never have done it regularly and will never test again unless forced to due to travel! If I'm unwell i will stay at home as per pre covid times.

And most of those off don't actually need to be, they're isolating, not so ill they need to be off for 5-10 days. The isolation is causing more disruption than the illness.

Yes, but right now those are the rules. If infected people didn’t come to school or other workplaces then other people won’t catch it and have to isolate.

My cousin tested positive on a LFT this morning at 7am. She had been testing daily because of things that she was doing. The test she did yesterday afternoon was negative. So it's really difficult to know when it flicked from one to the other. Could she have been infectious last night?

I only test if I have symptoms.

I don't see something that takes a couple of minutes is that huge a burden??

When it results in say a single parent losing a third of their monthly income and being unable to feed their dc then yes it is a burden too big to bear for many.

Your thread doesn't make sense. You tested and you had it, so it's good you tested.

We have tested occasionally and when we saw fit. We have barely been in contact with anyone who has had it, so our occasional testing hadn't produced any positive tests.

@LifesTooShortYOLO

Yes exactly whats happened to us.
My 7 year old had a routine lft last Sunday morning which was positive.

Otherwise no way of knowing. COMPLETELY ASYMPTOMATIC.

still testing positive on day 7, 8days of being indoors.

Completely well enough to be at school.
It's ridiculous. DH also been working away all week so I've had to do the whole isolation alone.
But you're right, I bet there are so many people walking around with it as they don't test.
We'll not test anymore unless seeing a vulnerable person.

The whole point of lfts is to pick up on asymptomatic cases. We’ve had covid and most of the family had no symptoms. Picked up by testing regularly. I have 3 DC in 3 different educational settings. All 3 DC were due to mix at my niece’s Bday party where all my sibling’s kids would have been. All would have then caught the virus and taken it back to their schools and contacts etc. I like to think that we have contributed in some way in protecting others who are vulnerable.
The hardest part is having to isolate for 10 days whilst not having any symptoms, but we will do so as lateral flows are still very much positive.
If I ever give up on regular testing using lfts it won’t be because of the reason stated in the the OP, but because of the fact that some of us didn’t test positive at all on lateral flows and only pcrs, so I think using lateral flows to help prevent the spread in the wider community isn’t effective for everyone.

I test my DFS twice a week because he goes to a special secondary school and many kids there are cev. We are sick of it but can't take risk with another kid getting really sick. They have asked us to test daily but that is too much.

I've never been on board with unsymptomatic testing. I do it to go in care homes or if I'm seeing my gran but certainly not twice weekly.