Being honest, who else is doing this?

[HonestTest]

Talking to a group of friends who are split between what they now do in regards to Covid. None are CEV.

Some still testing for every symptom on either LFTs or PCRs and isolating if positive as previously required for up to 10 days (or early if neg day 6/7).

Others, like me, now not testing at all even with potential symptoms and just staying in until they feel well enough like they would have in 2019 whether that's 3 days or 10.

What are you doing now?

When tests start to cost I imagine we'll see the number of people bothering with them drop but it's been very freeing to not have to bother anymore with the circus of scrambling to find a box of gold dust lfts every time my DC or I sneezes and just treating what could be potentially Covid (I wouldn't know) like anything else.

(I appreciate the answer to this will be entirely different if you are CEV and that these people will still have access to free testing and will understandably want to do so).

I am still testing if visiting DM or have symptoms. Cases here are rife. Schools having to close year groups as so many staff are off. Most of these staff are I’ll not just isolating because positive. This new variant seems to be more than a cold for many people

Will keep testing while I still have LFTs but I won't buy them. If they are say £3 each, for 5 of us to test twice a week that's well over £100 a month. Not to mention if someone comes up positive and we should be doing them every day for 7 days, thats another £100.

@PurpleDaisies

I’m testing when I’ve got symptoms or if I’m going to see someone vulnerable in an indoor setting. I had covid recently and found out on an lft. I was pleased I hadn’t exposed anyone who could have had a bad course.

This. A relative is terminally ill, but well ATM, and long may that continue - so I am testing before seeing him so that I don't expose him to the virus.

We are in the ridiculous position where dd can go to school even though she has covid (they have stated that they expect pupils in if they are well enough to go). But dhs dentist appointment was cancelled because it is their policy that If a member of the household has covid they won’t see the patient. A local preschool is also still saying children can’t attend if they have a positive family member.

Personally, We won’t be in a financial position to buy tests next week, so I guess anyone who sees us just has to take their chance. It doesn’t feel right though.

We've got 7 tests left. Both DH and I have just got over covid. We did test to confirm it but tbh we both felt so poorly we weren't going anywhere anyway.

I think we will test at the weekend to ensure we're clear before we start seeing his parents again.

Other than that though - we won't test regularly. We can't afford to pay for the tests. I'm happy to take one if someone else wants me to and they'll pay for it.

A mixture - testing if I'm going to see my elderly people. Just staying away from people (not testing) if I feel crappy.

@AlexaShutUp

Personally, I think people who can afford to buy them should continue to test. Vulnerable people are still at risk, even after vaccination. But ultimately, it's a personal choice. If you think it's morally OK not to test, then that's your decision. We are all only responsible for our own actions.

How do you define afford though? I could probably find £120 a month from somewhere but it would mean other areas of our life would have be trimmed as we don't have this amount of genuinely disposable income - as I would imagine most people don't. Do you think that people should give up other stuff to keep testing?

I recently tested because I had mild cold symptoms and was going to an event. It was negative. Some days later DS2 had similar symptoms turning to a cough and tested positive. He was then kept off school until negative, and that effectively isolated me from high risk interactions so I saw no benefit in testing myself again at that point and had exceded 10 days from symptoms starting before he returned to school. DH then went down with it and as I am more likely to have had it first and was symptomless, I haven't tested as a contact. I have tested DS1 as he had cold symptoms overlapping with DS2 and DH. I've kept him in school as they're on the last push before SATs, he's borderline to pass some papers, lost nearly 7 months of schooling and due to SNs is impossible to teach at home, especially in the areas that he struggles with. He's also desperately trying to exaggerate croaky voices and other illness symptoms to get a week off now we're in a culture of prolonged absence for minor medical reason.

I will not be replacing our current stock of LFTs without a substantial reason. If I get chance to see frail MiL again (we're already nearly at 2.5 years) then I'd consider it as it's a rare event, and I could do without being accused of Grannycide.

I won't be symptomless testing for an event at the weekend having just emerged from 2 weeks of home contacts. I've waited 3 years for this and my experience of LFTs is that the symptoms show up first.

We seem to have forgotten that the usual range of colds/ flu/ norovirus/ random viruses can also be potentially severe or fatal anyway.

Testing if I have symptoms.

I have got got Covid at the moment, so i'm isolating until I have two negative tests.

@AlexaShutUp I love the not so subtle shade you threw there.

'If you morally think it's ok'

Tbh, yes I do. The money to pay for tests will have to come from somewhere.

I've just recovered from my second bout of covid. (Am fully jabbed.) Was genuinely surprised at the test being positive - I thought it was just the start of flu. Continued to test every couple of days (not every day), and I continued to be strongly positive even after I'd started to feel better.

I'm on a very low income but when I run out of my current tests will find the money somehow to continue to test before I visit vulnerable friends.

[quote NothingIsWrong]@AlexaShutUp

Personally, I think people who can afford to buy them should continue to test. Vulnerable people are still at risk, even after vaccination. But ultimately, it's a personal choice. If you think it's morally OK not to test, then that's your decision. We are all only responsible for our own actions.

How do you define afford though? I could probably find £120 a month from somewhere but it would mean other areas of our life would have be trimmed as we don't have this amount of genuinely disposable income - as I would imagine most people don't. Do you think that people should give up other stuff to keep testing?[/quote]
I think everyone should do whatever their conscience dictates. It isn't for me to assess whether or not others can afford it.

I am not routinely testing at the moment. Only with symptoms or after close contact with positive cases. So £120 a month seems like rather an overestimate to me, but everyone's circumstances are different.

"I think now people are just using it as an excuse to stay off work and pander to the paranoia"

I haven't read something as stupid and offensive as this for a while, now. Thanks, shrunkenhead, for being so dismissive about a serious illness that has left me disabled and has killed friends.

[quote Twizbe]@AlexaShutUp I love the not so subtle shade you threw there.

'If you morally think it's ok'

Tbh, yes I do. The money to pay for tests will have to come from somewhere. [/quote]
So that's your decision, then. The OP asked a question and I answered it with my personal opinion. You have a right to make your own judgements, and I accept that these might be different from my own.

Never tested so won't start now, no DC and retired so I don't have school or work to worry about.

I have to balance the theoretical risk of infecting one of the rare people who’d be seriously affected with the actual risk of having no income for myself and my child. No work equals no money

@BogRollBOGOF

I recently tested because I had mild cold symptoms and was going to an event. It was negative. Some days later DS2 had similar symptoms turning to a cough and tested positive. He was then kept off school until negative, and that effectively isolated me from high risk interactions so I saw no benefit in testing myself again at that point and had exceded 10 days from symptoms starting before he returned to school. DH then went down with it and as I am more likely to have had it first and was symptomless, I haven't tested as a contact. I have tested DS1 as he had cold symptoms overlapping with DS2 and DH. I've kept him in school as they're on the last push before SATs, he's borderline to pass some papers, lost nearly 7 months of schooling and due to SNs is impossible to teach at home, especially in the areas that he struggles with. He's also desperately trying to exaggerate croaky voices and other illness symptoms to get a week off now we're in a culture of prolonged absence for minor medical reason.

I will not be replacing our current stock of LFTs without a substantial reason. If I get chance to see frail MiL again (we're already nearly at 2.5 years) then I'd consider it as it's a rare event, and I could do without being accused of Grannycide.

I won't be symptomless testing for an event at the weekend having just emerged from 2 weeks of home contacts. I've waited 3 years for this and my experience of LFTs is that the symptoms show up first.

We seem to have forgotten that the usual range of colds/ flu/ norovirus/ random viruses can also be potentially severe or fatal anyway.

I agree with you particularly "my experience of LFTs is that the symptoms show up first".

I had minor symptoms and tested negative for several days and then positive tested for a mere 2 days. I say minor symptoms since I am asthmatic and always have wheezing with a cough etc so nothing unusual apart from a high temperature for one night and hot and cold. That was a couple of days prior to testing positive.

I would also do a LFT if visiting someone particularly vulnerable but not day to day and don't wear a mask unless in a medical setting.

Work won't pay me if I'm off with covid, so I won't be testing.
If I had a positive test I'd have a moral dilemma I can't afford.

Still testing like crazy. We’ve all had weird cold symptoms on and off for weeks and are concerned about passing them on to others.

I do a hobby twice a week where testing is requested before attendance too. Presume that will stop when we have to pay and everyone runs out of their stash of free tests.

We are on our third box of tests since they became available about a year ago and have two unopened boxes. We will carry on testing when about to meet the vulnerable indoors or if we have symptoms. When the tests run out, we will probably buy some more.
I’d certainly want to know if I had it.

Just had covid so I won't be testing again. If I have any hint of symptoms I'll stay home if too ill to do anything.

I'd test with symptoms or a household contact - I stopped testing for non-household contacts a while ago as kids would've been testing every day for months. I currently have it and wouldn't want to be responsible for anyone feeling as rubbish as I do now.

We've only used about 2 boxes of tests since the beginning of covid and 1 extra box before travelling to see elderly family members. I wouldn't test now for minor cold symptoms but would still test before going to see my 90 year old grandmother.

I see people are still using judgements in an attempt to shame others. 'If you morally think it's ok', 'selfish', even the 'I think everyone should do whatever their conscience dictates' throws an attempt at putting others down. I think people are over those type of judgements now and most of us find them mildly amusing that people still do it. Hopefully, no one takes them seriously.

@Anna197264

I had covid in January with no symptoms. I only tested because cases were rife in my DDs class and she was positive as was DH. I’ve not done a test since. I’m self employed and if I’m sick I don’t get paid. If I am feeling poorly I won’t work but there was absolutely nothing wrong with all 3 of us when we had it which I appreciate is very fortunate but with financial support now being withdrawn for the self employed I can’t continue to actively look for covid.

This is me also self employed. The only reason I'd continue to actively look for Covid infection is if I wanted to send my business under!