How much do lines on tests vary?

[Artinsurance]

Our house has been lucky enough to avoid Covid till now so I’ve no other experience of looking at a positive Covid test.

Last Wednesday I started with a really runny nose and sneezing which came on incredibly quickly and without my normal “coming down with a cold tickle at the back of the throat”. Took a Covid test on Thursday morning and it was negative. The “cold” continued with sneezing and a blocked nose but yesterday, I was feeling a bit like my chest was constricting so I took another test and it has come back positive. The last time I was out or in contact with anyone other than my partner was Saturday - and he’s tested negative. Today I feel more clear headed than I have for the last week. So, I’m not sure when I started with Covid (although I do know when I would most likely statistically have caught it) and how much isolating I should do from this point.

I’ve heard about faint lines on tests but does anyone who tested positive know just how dark the line gets and tell me how the line on my test from this morning compares?

That definitely looks positive to me, take another test tomorrow. I don’t trust the symptoms because it varies for so many people.

When I had it I seemed to have the classic symptoms the week before actually testing positive, I do daily LFTs for work so the day I saw the lines I felt completely fine, this was the end of summer last year when you had to isolate regardless. I had a PCR same day which came back positive and within a few days the classic symptoms returned with cough and sense of smell and taste gone.

My first test the other day got as dark at the C in your picture, and it turned that colour in a couple of minutes. 5 days later I thought I was clear...until I waited for half an hour, and then only when I put my glasses on.

You're still positive. Might be ok tomorrow though.

I got one absolute squinter of a line, and then couldn't get another to go positive (including different brands) until 48 hours later, despite feeling rotten and having had PCR confirmation of my own passwords result.
Tbf I went for pcr to confirm as I knew I was a high risk contact as Ds2 had tested positive 2 days before.
I had felt ropey the night before but negative lft then. If I hadn't tested at that precise moment on morning one, I might not have picked up that I was positive until 2 days later. Line then showed up again and got progressively darker, but didn't go away until day 10.
First image is my first outsource, day 1 (squinter). Second image is the two tests I took later on day 1 to try to confirm before giving up and booking pcr. Third image is next time I got a positive lft, day 3, with DSs day 5 beside it for comparison.

Outsource =positive 🤦🏻‍♀️

That's quite a line, when I first tested positive (back in March) it was so faint you could have missed it. By day 3 it was very clear, like the control line. Then it started to fade again. I stopped testing after day 10 as it was still showing faint positive.

Mine started off really faint, then for darker then went light again - so you could be either at the end of the beginning? Hard to know until you keep testing I guess xx

My first line was like that, by day 5 it was black and stayed that way until day 10.

Thanks everyone. I’ve no doubts it is a positive line on the test (and this is actually the 4th one I’ve done since yesterday because I didn’t believe the first two 😳🤣)

I went to a gig on the Saturday before I started with my “cold” and it turned out to be a standing gig and absolutely rammed with people. I did wear a mask, although most people weren’t, but it was a recipe for catching something when I’ve not been in contact with many people at a time for so long. This is what makes me think that my symptoms started over a week ago even if I didn’t test positive at that point. I’ll continue testing though - thankfully I have a couple of packets left.

Today, I just have a very hoarse throat and, in the beforetimes, would think nothing of going out at this point as I’m much better than I was.

A black line? Mine is quite pink. Maybe a different test supply. It would appear the testing results are as variable as the virus 🥴

Yes mine got black as well the further into the virus I got x hope it’s mild for you x

Thank you 😊

Interesting about the colour change too though. Photo comparisons for the next few days then.