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).

that's why I said it will be different if you're CEV because you won't need to pay

This is not true. A subset of CEV people will have access to free testing, the most critically vulnerable ie immunosuppressed, but the vast majority of CEV people will not.

I am CEV. I will still test when I have symptoms or have been a close contact because I need to know to keep an eye on my sats as I can get very sick very quickly and it would give me time to try and get the antivirals if they would give them to me (again, they're not for all CEV people, so many of us are now out in the cold, boosters waning, no booster on the horizon.)

"email today said 60% of parents refused"

What tide? I've been involved with whole school testing and every time school did pre return testing less than half of parents have allowed their children to test.

Not that uncommon for parents to send kids in who have classic symptoms and even try to send them in after being sent home to get a test the day before, lie about them having had a test, or even try to send them in to school after having tested positive

@Itwasnotmeormydog

I have forgotten all about coronavirus and it wouldn't even occur to me to test anymore.

Yet here you are on a Covid thread about testing on the Covid board.

I think people need to get out of the mindset that lft’s were free. We didn’t pay for them directly but this doesn’t mean we aren’t paying for them as taxpayers. I’ve seen stories on here of people taking several in a day when they were already positive just to see, or taking one on day 3 or 4 when isolating rules said test on day 5 just to see, they wouldn’t have been doing this if they were directly paying for them I can assure you. It’s not feasible for the taxpayer to carry on funding this level of testing for all indefinitely when there’s a shortage of money to pay for other important stuff

Yet here you are on a Covid thread about testing on the Covid board.

TBF, it was likely in 'Trending now' and poster clicked to see what thread was like I did, I haven't visited the Covid board for ages now but still posted.

@Wellbythebloodyhell

For those who are regularly testing now whilst the tests are free, will you still be testing as often when you need to pay for them?

No.

@Wellbythebloodyhell

For those who are regularly testing now whilst the tests are free, will you still be testing as often when you need to pay for them?

No

We have to pay for the tests in Ireland, I bought a box recently, 5 for €15.99! So I could imagine that it’ll be even harder if you suddenly have to start paying when they’ve been free previously. I would imagine people won’t bother.

I work for a GP I have to do LFTs twice a week, if positive I have to stay away until I have 2 consecutive days negatve tests.

I will continue to test until the tests are not free. When are not free I will continue to rest if they are a reasonable price, I’d be ok with paying maybe £10 for a box of 7 and testing gives me peace of mind as I have lovely elderly friends and family that I would hate to Infect.
All the people I know who have long Covid are quite young and we’re previously healthy - most of those now have heart issues.

@Usingit

Yet here you are on a Covid thread about testing on the Covid board.

TBF, it was likely in 'Trending now' and poster clicked to see what thread was like I did, I haven't visited the Covid board for ages now but still posted.

Just came up in recent threads - I didn’t know there was a Covid board.

We used to test regularly then cut back but last weekend our Daughter had symptoms and tested positive, I tested positive on Monday and Husband tested positive yesterday, only other Daughter testing negative.

We are all isolating and paid sick leave from work.

@Madhairday

that's why I said it will be different if you're CEV because you won't need to pay

This is not true. A subset of CEV people will have access to free testing, the most critically vulnerable ie immunosuppressed, but the vast majority of CEV people will not.

I am CEV. I will still test when I have symptoms or have been a close contact because I need to know to keep an eye on my sats as I can get very sick very quickly and it would give me time to try and get the antivirals if they would give them to me (again, they're not for all CEV people, so many of us are now out in the cold, boosters waning, no booster on the horizon.)

Yup. CEV here but not immunosuppressed, so no 4th shot any time soon, and no free lots after this month. I will still be testing as last time I got Covid I was seriously ill for a long time, so if catch it again I want at least the chance of getting the retrovirals if qualify for them. In the meantime, everyone is acting as if it’s over, which means I have to take even more precautions, as it’s rife in London and I can not afford to catch it again.

I am not buying any test kits in the future.

I'm no longer testing at all.

I’ll test when unwell, until our tests run out. I’ll get all the vaccinations I can. If I can afford the tests when I run out (we’ve got loads - they just kept sending boxes home from school with DD) I’ll buy more, and test when unwell or before gatherings, but I’m unlikely to be able to carry the expense at the moment. I still wear masks for my weekly shop, and I don’t go to parties, just coffee or drinks with neighbours (who have kids in our school. This isn’t a reaction to Covid, it’s just single parent life!) but I will test before I go somewhere inside they I have no school links with (um, never, then!) or if I was seeing someone I knew to be vulnerable (also never)

Sadly, I think this is just going to be something vulnerable people do die from in future, like pneumonia or flu (hundreds of thousands of vulnerable people die of flu every year, and everyone dies of something. I think better action could have eradicated it, but the government didn’t, so it hasn’t been. At this point, I can’t really see what else I personally can do. I’m not wishing to be callous, I wish it were otherwise, but I’m not making policies about it. And I didn’t vote for the dickhead that is!

I hardly ever tested anyway and won't bother now.

I have been healthy throughout and not yet been a close contact. I don't know that many people who have had it tbh.

I’ve still got boxes of lateral flow tests that the nurse gave me when I went in the drive through test centre. So when any of us feel under the weather we test. If we’re unwell we stay home and cancel any plans or medical appointments.

I've never tested. I wfh and do click and collect for groceries and haven't had so much as a runny nose since 2019. I rarely go anywhere that DH hasn't also and he has to test twice a week for his job. He regularly comes into contact with covid positive people (works in healthcare) but he hasn't had it either.

It's about time that the vast majority of the population stop testing.

I am on day 11 of covid- so starting to recover. I will not bother testing again in the future.

I've only tested once since 2020. One lateral flow as it was needed to enter a restaurant. Never had a PCR.

DD has had one PCR. Never a lateral.

Johnson and Tories want covid over to save their necks.chris whitty says today we are at the start of another wave and NHS is struggling

It's also not just the cost of the tests, its the loss of work if you have to isolate
I'm self employed and really can't afford to have covid.

I know of a healthy 34 year old who was unvaccinated and died last week in ITU.covid isn't over

We've stopped testing as we don't have to test twice a week now for work. In fact we're allowed to work with covid now- and we are. Dh worked with a guy with covid last week. Dh tested positive mon. Quite a few off at the minute. I have symptons.