How long after symptoms positive test?

[Tailfeather]

I work in a small office with 12 of us. One of my colleagues is going through cancer treatment so we are still being careful with covid testing and she is having surgery in 2 weeks and a positive test would delay her life-saving surgery. I've had a bad headache, sore throat and stomach ache this weekend but am testing negative. Some friends said that, back in the day when we all tested, they tested negative with symptoms for a few days before testing positive. Has anyone found similar recently? (Or is nobody testing anymore?).

Any illness is a potential issue, not just covid.

Agree, I'd stay away from your colleague whatever it is you have.

She's not immunocompromised anymore and chooses to work. The hospital has picked up more on covid due to increased cases.

I had it last in February. My symptoms were a headache and tiredness. I tested and didn't get a +ve until day 4. The others were -ve. It's pretty prevalent at the moment, so I would stay away.

Tested within two hours of sore throat coming on three weeks ago : very faint line after several minutes (any line visible means positive). Next day it pinged up strongly straight away.