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Original poster

How will we test?

43 replies

PeacheyPeach · 29/03/2022 23:31

I've just read that lft tests are being scrapped at the end of the week. How will we test then ? will we have to book a pcr test or are we just not testing at all? What about when we go on holiday or meeting up with vulnerable family members or friends??

OP posts:
loudbatperson · 29/03/2022 23:35

Tests will have to be purchased privately, except for a small number of highly vulnerable people.

user1477391263 · 29/03/2022 23:42

How will we test?

You....er......buy a test and use it?
They are not being "scrapped," they are just not free any more. You will still be able to buy them.

The pandemonium over the end of free tests on Mumsnet is so weird to those of us who live outside the UK. You realize that it was pretty much only the UK that ever made these things free? In almost all other countries, you had to pay for them from the start.

Topseyt · 29/03/2022 23:52

If you want to test you will have to pay for them with effect from 1st April.

The obsessive testing will hopefully then stop, or at least greatly reduce, and not before time too. What a massive amount of plastic waste it is producing!

I have extremely vulnerable family that I visit regularly. I haven't tested before each visit anyway.

I'm hoping that we see a return to good old-fashioned common sense. If you are feeling well then go. If not then stay at home. Simple as that.

Feckaffoutofit · 29/03/2022 23:53

Just don't test.

Cupcakegirl13 · 30/03/2022 00:05

There have always been all manner of illnesses that are minor for most and serious for the few , we don’t go around testing for those on a daily basis we just exercise common sense which hopefully will prevail in the absence of free testing .

bumblefeline · 30/03/2022 00:10

I haven't tested in months. If I feel ill I stay in. I have a sky high pile of lateral flow tests from school.

I could sell them for a fortune.

The reliance on LFTs is bizarre.

MuggleMadness · 30/03/2022 00:13

@Topseyt

If you want to test you will have to pay for them with effect from 1st April.

The obsessive testing will hopefully then stop, or at least greatly reduce, and not before time too. What a massive amount of plastic waste it is producing!

I have extremely vulnerable family that I visit regularly. I haven't tested before each visit anyway.

I'm hoping that we see a return to good old-fashioned common sense. If you are feeling well then go. If not then stay at home. Simple as that.

Two years in & countless times people have explained it to you, so there's no point really... but someone younger & healthier may have it, asymptomatically & without it causing them any problems, the more vulnerable person they pass it on to may get very sick or die, but yeah, why let that bother you.
NippyWoowoo · 30/03/2022 00:14

You've only now read this?

LondonQueen · 30/03/2022 00:16

You buy them for travel, you don't do regular testing anymore as it's not necessary. You'd stay home when unwell with flu but you wouldn't get a test before you do so would you? It's the same with covid now.

AlwaysLatte · 30/03/2022 00:28

I'd like to know where to buy them as we're almost out! We have Covid in the house currently although 2 haven't caught it yet. It could go on for another couple of weeks if they do so I'd like to be able to continue to test to avoid passing it on to elderly relatives and other vulnerable people.

WTF475878237NC · 30/03/2022 00:37

Two years in & countless times people have explained it to you, so there's no point really... but someone younger & healthier may have it, asymptomatically & without it causing them any problems, the more vulnerable person they pass it on to may get very sick or die, but yeah, why let that bother you.

^ unbelievable threads like this still exist isn't it? People are so ignorant/selfish/thick.

WTF475878237NC · 30/03/2022 00:38

I've been trying to buy some and it's not that easy actually! The government website has been out for days. Good luck OP.

Topseyt · 30/03/2022 01:35

@MuggleMadness Yes, I am very well aware of all of that, thank you very much.

Covid certainly isn't the only virus that you can carry and transmit asymptomatically. That is absolutely nothing new at all. Cold and flu viruses are often spread in this way and are not routinely or obsessively tested for. They can be mild or asymptomatic in many people but very serious in others who are more vulnerable. It isn't hard to understand.

I am in the clinically vulnerable category myself and was on the shielding list (but couldn't shield for many reasons). After the first lockdown I refused to let Covid control me anymore. Nor will I test obsessively for it. That way lies paranoia.

Common sense must return whether you like it or not (and I can see that you don't). If you are ill stay at home. If you are not then go out and about if you want to. It was always that way.

theyoungishman · 30/03/2022 01:38

We have to pay for tests here in Australia at $12 each (roughly £6)... I couldn't believe that the UK had been giving them away for free for so long

Topseyt · 30/03/2022 02:04

@theyoungishman

We have to pay for tests here in Australia at $12 each (roughly £6)... I couldn't believe that the UK had been giving them away for free for so long
I couldn't believe it either (I am in the UK).

I know people who seem to have been testing almost daily for no clear reason.

I've only ever done two tests, both of which were required for travel and both negative.

Waxonwaxoff0 · 30/03/2022 07:12

I'm not testing, haven't since Christmas. You've always needed to pay for tests to go on holiday anyway, you can't use the free LFTs for travel.

HoolaCoola · 30/03/2022 17:33

And I am not allowed into either of the 2 separate care homes my relatives are in without proving I am negative. So 2 of us visiting twice a week will be in the region of £15 /£20 to buy tests. Every week. Luckily got a few boxes in at the moment but no idea what is going to happen in the future.

TypicaIMe · 30/03/2022 17:55

I've no Idea what I'm going to do. I inject immunosuppressant drugs weekly and have to take a test before I do (having covid when I take them would be extremely dangerous). However when I had covid recently I was told that although I had been eligible for antivirals in the past, the rules had changed in the past few weeks and I no longer am. This is despite me having a priority PCR and a letter saying I'm eligible.

Upshot is, I won't be able to take my medication once my supply of LFTs runs out, because I can't afford to buy them.

TypicaIMe · 30/03/2022 17:57

Sorry, forgot to say only CEV who are eligible for antivirals are eligible for free LFTs.

teenagetantrums · 30/03/2022 18:06

@HoolaCoola l work in a care home. After 1st April visitors won't need a lift to enter. That's new government guildlines

teenagetantrums · 30/03/2022 18:08

LFT not lift

anotherbrewplease · 30/03/2022 18:22

I've only ever done two tests, both of which were required for travel and both negative

Congrats. Not sure what you're boasting about here.

I've had to test twice a week for months and months as I work in the NHS - we've only just found out yesterday, that the NHS will be kind enough to provide and pay for our tests. Which I was relieved about.

A lot of people have vulnerable relatives in care homes etc and feel concerned enough to want to test before visiting. I hope that's okay with you.

Pootle40 · 30/03/2022 18:35

And now the penny drops on why the UK had such high cases. Obsessive testing which didn't really achieve anything.

Pootle40 · 30/03/2022 18:36

Agree completely re common sense. I have Covid now. Felt a bit off Monday while working at home. Did a test Tuesday. Positive. Staying at home until I feel better whether that's 2, 5 or 10 days.

TypicaIMe · 30/03/2022 18:45

@Pootle40

And now the penny drops on why the UK had such high cases. Obsessive testing which didn't really achieve anything.
For some people testing was, and is, essential.