Covid - shopping

[CactiHug]

I’m 7 days since first positive test, still testing positive today. Am I ok to go shopping?

Ive avoided going in anywhere up to now but need a few fresh bits. I don’t have enough money to hit minimum online deliveries atm.

I will wear a mask. I’ve read post 5-days you are less likely to be infectious so would this be ok?

I would do it.

If you are testing positive you are still infectious.

Do you not have anyone who can get a few bits for you?

Yes, LFDs are good at picking up when you are likely to be infectious (rather than infected), so if you can avoid other people, I would. Yes, some people are not infectious after five days (or at all) but if you are still positive, you probably are. But if you need food and there isn't anyone who can help, then yes, wear a good mask and be quick. Hope you feel better soon.

Can you organise a delivery instead? Morrisons have loads of slots available right now. At the worst you could click and collect, which will keep you away from people.

I’ve just come back from my first few days away since 2019 (self catering cottage in the UK) and picked up covid at a supermarket while I was there. DH and I are now confined to bed and as ill as if we had the flu. I would have been grateful if whoever was spreading it around had thought twice before taking a trip to Tesco.

I was about to post asking a similar question. I need to pick up a prescription and get some fresh bits too. Am just going to go during the day when it is less busy.

Morrisons click and collect has a minimum of only £25.

I ordered mine on Deliveroo until I tested negative

Wait, what? I've read that after day 8 you are very unlikely to be infectious 😯

Do it , i'm suprised you're testing, I dont know anyone that's testing still and if they feel iffy they carry on unless they're too ill to work
I'd go out unless I physically felt ill enough not to

Not everyone has £25, especially if they only need a few bits.

I would go when it's quiet and wear a mask.

Thanks for all the replies. I’ve read that you’re most infectious for first 5 days and not after 10 days. I started feeling unwell a couple of days before I got a positive test so think technically on 10 days but really only 7 from test.

I’ll leave it until tomorrow and see if I get a negative. I haven’t got £25 to do a shop until next week, literally just want some bread and fruit, dairy.

I’ve tested because I volunteer in a hospice so can’t go in if I’m positive.

After ten days, 5% of people will still be infectious, says the UKHSA. ukhsa.blog.gov.uk/2022/01/01/using-lateral-flow-tests-to-reduce-the-self-isolation-period/

It isn't all or nothing, as the current guidance (which assumes people are not testing) makes clear - try to avoid mingling if symptomatic for 5 days but avoid more vulnerable people for ten.

www.nhs.uk/conditions/coronavirus-covid-19/self-isolation-and-treatment/when-to-self-isolate-and-what-to-do/.

I agree with pp - am grateful to anyone who thinks through what they are doing and tries to minimise risk to others where possible (and it isn't always, some people will have to work or pop to shops, but the risk falls each day, once you are on the way out of the infection). Hope you have a speedy recovery, OP!

The current guidance actually says to try and stay away from vulnerable people for 10 days after testing positive, but yes, a positive test does mean you are infectious.

Can you ask a neighbour Cacti?

For prescriptions pharmacists can use delivery services / couriers.

Absolutely go.

I'd go.

Sorry but how do you know exactly where you got covid from? Do you know the exact person in this supermarket who gave you covid too? You could have caught covid anywhere before you left but it's taken it's time to come out (even if you tested before you left and it was negative that doesn't mean you didn't have it).

If you need to go shopping and have noone who can help you out then you could go at a quiet time, wear a mask, keep a distance as much as possible and be in and out quickly. That should reduce the chance of transmission to others. Many people are going about business as usual and not even testing anymore, we are told to treat it like a cold now. It's personal choice now really but i would definitely avoid vulnerable people and avoid contact with others where possible as even before covid most of us were courteous and wouldn't want to pass on coughs and colds to others.

There will be vulnerable people in the supermarket though - so if you would definitely avoid vulnerable people than you need to definitely isolate. That is the only way you avoid vulnerable people.

Everything I have read says to avoid meeting/close contact with vulnerable people. Not avoid being in the same supermarket as them.

Not true. After one infection I was testing positive almost four weeks later. DH was still positive after almost two months! Of course we weren't infectious by that point.

How on earth can you know when and where you caught it?

And even if you did catch it at the supermarket, it was just as likely to be from a member of staff who (like most employees now) can't stay off work with Covid if they're well enough to go in, as someone blithely taking a trip to Tesco while knowing they had Covid. Not sure how they could've known anyway, seeing as tests aren't free anymore.

Waiting for someone to tell you you should have stayed indoors until you were no longer testing positive even though it was weeks/months later...