Can you have Covid but test negative on LFT?

[donkhonk]

Having escaped it so far, I thought Covid had finally hit our household. Pretty much every symptom going, but negative LFTs.

I know there are other viruses floating around, but this really does feel flu like and very not summer-y.

Can anyone shed any light?

It's entirely possible to have covid and a -ve LFT, as per PP said, there's concern that the tests aren't quite so accurate with a couple of the new strains. There's also more of a possibility that the test has been done wrong or its out of date etc. At our Trust anyone with symptoms is still being asked to stay off, so I would say err on the side of caution to be honest. I work in infection control, alongside a microbiologist, and the lack of accuracy was mentioned a couple of weeks ago.

The reason I tested again on day 4 was that I read on here that lots of people weren't testing positive for several days after the start of symptoms! The first few days, as I'd had 2 negative tests, I was going around telling people not to worry, I just had a cold 😳 I did wear a mask though, to avoid giving my "cold" to anyone, so I hope I didn't infect anyone while I was unaware I had covid.

That just isn't true.

I tested negative on Thursday and Friday.

Reason I tested was that I had been with my DM (who doesn’t live nearby) on Monday evening, when she was starting to feel unwell, and she tested positive on Tuesday. Then I started to cough on Thursday.

Felt rubbish on Saturday and Sunday, cold symptoms but also high temp. So I tested again this morning (Monday) - positive.

So clearly I did have COVID on Thursday and Friday. But either I didn’t swab properly, or there wasn’t enough virus yet to detect.

This leads to another thought: NHS advice is to stay at home for at least 5 days, or until you stop feeling unwell (if longer).

In one place it says 5 days from your infection, in other 5 days from your test. But if you’d had symptoms for 4 days before getting a positive test, what do you do?

A relative had not been feeling well. Totally clear LFTs. Stopped testing and a week later rushed into hospital for emergency surgery. Hospital tests positive.

DS tested positive on a LFT with a swab of snot I'd gotten from a tissue 🤷🏻‍♀️

I think so. I'm pretty sure I'm in the early stages and the rest of my family have blazing positives.

Been wondering this too. I currently have covid, had a strong positive LFT but my partner, who also has symptoms, is still negative and we’re days in.

It used to say 10 days, not including the day of your test. So the following 10.

I've just had a negative test on day 4, despite feeling rubbish all week. Mainly headache and worse sore throat, plus not feeling well. Fatigued. I'm barely coughing. My chest/oesophagus is sore, very. though. No stuffy nose, not bunged up.

I had covid a couple of weeks ago, only tested positive for the first time on day 5 when I was already feeling much better, although still far from well. Continued to test positive for about a week afterwards.

This just isn't true.

I've had covid six times and tested positive on LFT, both symptomatically and asymptomatically.

PCR testing was more accurate generally, but I think its main purpose was to keep track of infection rates - obviously people testing positive on LFT only didn't always report their results.

I test three or four times a week as advised by my consultant. The NHS wouldn't advise CEV people to rely on LFTs if they weren't reliable.

Also, @Krank, you can't 'stay in your house' every time you have any symptoms of covid. Heck, many people can't stay in their houses even if they test positive for it - plenty of employers insist staff go into work if they're well enough, or after a few days.

I'm pretty sure I must have covid as other people in my household have it with positive tests and i feel really ill but my test is negative. Its very annoying as my work place don't count covid towards the usual sickness I'd we have a valid test

Yes, that's ridiculously unrealistic given how wide the range and severity of symptoms is. There are people who know they had it and who report nothing more than a mild headache, some tiredness or not feeling like eating much. These are all completely normal things that happen all the time. As if people can be expected to stay in their houses every time they're tired.