Boots to sell LFTs online from tomorrow

[RedToothBrush]

£6.99 including delivery for one. Or four for £17.

Then they will be available in store for £12 for 5 from next month.

www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-60486323

Better than initially suggested, but if you have one family member test positive in your house and there's 4 of you if you follow the guidance you are probably going to need at least 5 packs. So you are probably looking at around 60.

If you want to continue to test twice weekly for asymptomatic reasons, for a family of four you are still looking at £24 a month.

If lfts were more accurate then I'd see the point in buying some, as they aren't and were always intended as 'better than nothing' for finding asymptomatic cases then can't say I'll be spending a penny on them (well aside from the years of higher taxes to recoup the costs we can all look forward to).

At the moment, testing is compulsory before I can visit the care home. As far as I have been made aware so far, this is expected to continue.
If this does happen, some people just won't be able to afford to visit their loved ones if they are already struggling with money and it is the care home residents who will suffer as a result.

Does anyone know how other countries manage this? Where tests are not free??

I do think there’s an argument for retaining free testing for now in places like care homes.

But I do think it’s bonkers to be spending tens of billions on testing people who are not ill for an illness that will now be a cold for the vast majority. It just can’t continue.

testing is compulsory before I can visit the care home. As far as I have been made aware so far, this is expected to continue

at the moment, but that could change in a few weeks' time

and they are still free, so order them now and keep them in. You can order a pack every 3 days.

@RocketFire7

I do think there’s an argument for retaining free testing for now in places like care homes.

But I do think it’s bonkers to be spending tens of billions on testing people who are not ill for an illness that will now be a cold for the vast majority. It just can’t continue.

Same on both points. I don't trust the state with the welfare of care home residents, so don't agree with any policy that potentially means some residents can't have visitors.

£12 for 5 tests seems like a reasonable cost. Not too expensive for those that want to use them before visiting vulnerable people.

That sounds OK until you think of a family of 4/5 going for a weekly visit to a vulnerable Granny, £50 per month.

I do think we need to cut back on the testing. But at the same time they should be able to the 'shielding groups' for their family and friends.

I do also think we need to cut back on testing and for some it’s only right that they have access to free tests. Unfortunately, the greed of some is now spoiling things. I have a colleague who has been ordering boxes on repeat every day or so for months and months. She is now moaning that she can only do this every couple of days. She is not vulnerable, nor is anyone at home. She can work from home as well and in the event of having to pay I know she’s well able to afford it as in a highly paid professional role. I actually don’t think I want to know how many she has stored at home and not needed.

@Dinoteeth

£12 for 5 tests seems like a reasonable cost. Not too expensive for those that want to use them before visiting vulnerable people.

That sounds OK until you think of a family of 4/5 going for a weekly visit to a vulnerable Granny, £50 per month.

I do think we need to cut back on the testing. But at the same time they should be able to the 'shielding groups' for their family and friends.

Maybe not a brilliant idea for all 4/5 members of a family to visit vulnerable Granny every week during a pandemic. Specially as LFTs aren't infallible and won't show positive in the infectious early stage of infection. Some places are strictly limiting visitor numbers, probably for this reason.

I would expect the price of LFTs to reduce once the supermarkets get a supply, specially for multipacks. Although £2.40 is much cheaper than in many countries.

But if Granny is vulnerable she may well be feeling she's already missed enough of her DGCs life's without saying they shouldn't visit.

Loneliness can be hard enough for elderly people without family staying away. That one visit can be the highlight of an elderly persons week. And the very thing they look forward too.

But at the same time the family feel they want to reduce the risk as much as possible, ie do a test before they go.

They'll get cheaper now there isn't government funding available. Anything the government pays for is over priced. The government can pay that while it's early days, to cover development etc, but now competition comes in to play.

@Dinoteeth

But if Granny is vulnerable she may well be feeling she's already missed enough of her DGCs life's without saying they shouldn't visit.

Loneliness can be hard enough for elderly people without family staying away. That one visit can be the highlight of an elderly persons week. And the very thing they look forward too.

But at the same time the family feel they want to reduce the risk as much as possible, ie do a test before they go.

I'm not saying they shouldn't visit. I'm suggesting they could reduce the risk to Granny by taking it in turns to go, as recommended by many care homes. IME older people often prefer visits by fewer people at a time so that they can concentrate on what one or two people are saying rather than 4/5 milling around.

I notice that you ignored what I said about the fallibility of LFTs. I suggest that the risk reduction of fewer people in the room is greater than the risk reduction of doing LFTs that may or may not show infectivity at the moment the test was taken.

Lft maybe aren't the best but they are better than nothing.

The difference in risk between a family of 4 visiting together or going as 2 & 2 is probably miminial