Welcome to Mumsnet's holiday forum. Discuss all international travel here, including both shorthaul and longhaul trips. Related topics: UK holidays & day trips, skiing, camping & campervans.
Welcome to Mumsnet's holiday forum. Discuss all international travel here, including both shorthaul and longhaul trips. Related topics: UK holidays & day trips, skiing, camping & campervans.
Holidays
If you had Covid, did you test negative ok for a pre-travel PCR within two months?
AnnieSnap · 08/09/2021 23:59
DH and I seem to have Covid. I say seem, as we have both had negative PCR tests. We both have classic symptoms though (feel lousy, aches/pain, weak, loss of taste and smell and persistent cough). A look at the relevant scientific literature, shows there is at least a 30% false negative rate in real life, ad opposed to controlled laboratory conditions. In the circumstances, we’re behaving as if we have it (isolating etc). We haven’t got much energy to do anything else anyway.
We don’t seem to be ‘seriously’ unwell, so it is what it is, but a couple of weeks ago, I booked a holiday in Barbados, leaving 28 October. I have read that if a person has Covid, they can test positive for up to 90 days after (hence the government don’t provide repeat testing in that timescale, even for new symptoms). Again, the literature says you can test positive for weeks and even months after. I do realise that looking forward to our holiday is a first world thing, but I so am and wonder if any MNs can offer hope by having had Covid, but still had a negative pre-travel PCR within weeks!
PersonaNonGarter · 09/09/2021 03:14
The chances of you both having false negatives are lower than you both having something else, such as a cold. Have you done a LFT?
AnnieSnap · 09/09/2021 08:02
@PersonaNonGarter I’ve told myself that. We we’re both tested at the same test centre immediately after each other though. The false negatives are said to come from poor technique, storage etc. You are probably right though.
PersonaNonGarter · 09/09/2021 08:28
It would be worth finding out if you do have it, just to save the worry. Maybe go back to a different test centre.
PinkFootstool · 09/09/2021 08:40
@AnnieSnap DH and I both tested negative when we're sure we had it. We had three negative LFTs (required for work) and two negative PCRs each in a week. We had to consider at what point could we accept they were all wrong! My neighbour tested positive the same week, but her whole family remained negative. Our symptoms were identical.
It's hard to be sure with the tests!
As for international travel, maybe best to contact a test provider and ask now?
AnnieSnap · 09/09/2021 09:16
It’s a minefield isn’t it? I think I’ll just wait and we’ll test as we have to 72 hours before we’re due to fly. If one or both of us tests positive, the cost of the trip is covered by insurance. It will be getting to discover we can’t go 48 hours or less before we’re due to fly!
dogsdogsgods · 09/09/2021 11:28
The problem is, if you test positive 72 hours before, you then have to isolate again. Even though you don't have covid!
idontlikealdi · 09/09/2021 11:37
Two of you with a negative PCR, you've got a cold. I wouldn't be worrying about travel tests at all.
ChocolateCauldron · 09/09/2021 12:01
As you have time, take another test in a few weeks. That should put your mind at rest that its not covid, and stop an unwanted surprises due to lingering virus if you do have it now.
AnnieSnap · 09/09/2021 15:46
I suppose it probably is horrible cold. Weird that it has completely knocked out senses of taste and smell though! @ChocolateCauldron I’ll look into taking another in a few weeks.
Veuvelily · 09/09/2021 15:55
I just got Covid on holiday
Tests started getting more and more faint after day 7
Negative test on day 9
I think it all depends on your viral load, but I think testing positive weeks after is very rare
FusionChefGeoff · 09/09/2021 16:21
We have this! DH about to finish isolating definitely COVID positive. Our travel in 3 weeks needs negative LFT - no problems, he's testing negative already.
BUT it's amber so we have to do a Day 2 PCR when we get back so if he still tests positive then, is he legally obliged to quarantine??
AnnieSnap · 09/09/2021 16:57
@FusionChefGeoff
BUT it's amber so we have to do a Day 2 PCR when we get back so if he still tests positive then, is he legally obliged to quarantine??
I think you do 😳
That is comforting @Veuvelily
Hairbrush123 · 10/09/2021 07:44
I haven’t had covid but I had flu like symptoms which I thought was covid.
Runny nose, sore throat, headache, joint pain, general congestion. I took several PCR tests over a period of two weeks and daily lateral flow tests and they all came back negative. If it’s negative, it’s negative. Try to relax.
IsabellesMissingSock · 10/09/2021 09:11
I had a positive PCR in mid July. I recently got back from a trip abroad, and my day 2 test was negative, about 5 weeks later.
vdbfamily · 10/09/2021 09:40
my daughter was testing negative about 9 days after her positive PCR. If you are testing negative though I am not sure what your concern is??
AnnieSnap · 10/09/2021 14:19
@Hairbrush123 & @IsabellesMissingSock Thank you. Very reassuring.
Curlybrunette · 15/09/2021 20:22
I get your concerns OP, we had to cancel our holiday with 23 hours to go as DSs holiday PCRs came back positive. Me and DH hadn't felt quite right for a few days, nothing major just that 'I'm really ready for a holiday' feeling. We both went for PCRs, DH was positive, I was negative. We both felt rubbish, both lost our smell and taste but I never got a positive LFT or PCR.
It just seems odd I could be living in a house full of the covid, and have the same symptoms as DH and not get it.
We are looking at going away in 3 weeks, I really don't want to have to isolate if my day 2 test comes back positive (though of course I would). I feel cheated out of my diagnosis as I'm sure I've had it!
AnnieSnap · 15/09/2021 20:36
@Curlybrunette My sympathies. I hope you get to go on your trip in 3 weeks. 2 weeks after my first symptoms, I still feel bloody awful 😷🤒
Veuvelily · 16/09/2021 07:07
I tested negative to come hone, then tested positive on day 2 pcr!
Had test and trace phone call telling me to isolate, I tried explaining that I had already done my isolation on holiday. I had to phone 119 to get them to say no isolation. local track and trace team then called me, said they’d close the case.
Cornucopia55 · 24/09/2021 22:06
I'm in public health research. You should be fine - on average people test positive via PCR for about 17 days from first symptoms, and via the NHS lateral flow test (LFT) for about 7 days. There have been some extreme cases where people test positive via PCR for up to 90 days but these are rare.
The period where you test positive on LFT correlates closely with the period when live virus can be cultivated, ie you are infectious.
Last update I read in the literature suggested real-world PCR test accuracy in the UK is over 90%. Self-administered swabs don't seem to be much less accurate than those taken by a healthcare professional. Source: ONS
If you took 2 or more lateral flow tests when you had symptoms and none was positive, it is unlikely that you had Covid. It has been reported that there are some nasty colds going round now which definitely are not Covid.
DivorcedAndDelighted · 24/09/2021 22:20
@Curlybrunette
It just seems odd I could be living in a house full of the covid, and have the same symptoms as DH and not get it.
We are looking at going away in 3 weeks, I really don't want to have to isolate if my day 2 test comes back positive (though of course I would). I feel cheated out of my diagnosis as I'm sure I've had it!
You might find it interesting to do an antibody test, if you can spare the cash. You can get some private ones for about £50 which involve squeezing about 0.5ml of blood out of a fingertip & sending off to a lab for quantitative analysis. These are more accurate than the "cassette" instant antibody tests.
AnnieSnap · 24/09/2021 22:38
@Cornucopia55
The period where you test positive on LFT correlates closely with the period when live virus can be cultivated, ie you are infectious.
Last update I read in the literature suggested real-world PCR test accuracy in the UK is over 90%. Self-administered swabs don't seem to be much less accurate than those taken by a healthcare professional. Source: ONS
If you took 2 or more lateral flow tests when you had symptoms and none was positive, it is unlikely that you had Covid. It has been reported that there are some nasty colds going round now which definitely are not Covid.
Thank you for this. Very reassuring. It’s now over 3 weeks since I got whatever it is and I’m still not fully recovered. Still lowered energy, cough, and discomfort in my chest. Definitely getting there though, but better each day. Certainly a kick arse virus though 😳
whatsleep · 25/09/2021 15:03
I’m feeling the same, 2 weeks into the mystery virus that isn’t covid! Daily LFTs plus 2 PCR tests. I work in a school so have been worried about passing covid around the class. My classroom college has identical symptoms and we both seem to be getting gradually worse. Hoping a restful weekend will help 🤷♀️
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