Does anyone test for Covid anymore?

Using a COVID test on a berry proves nothing. They aren't designed to be used on berries, a chemical in the berry is reacting with a chemical in a COVID test - proves absolutely nothing.

If I went down with bad cold or flu symptoms I would test and stay at home until the symptoms cleared. I was impressed today as I went to my local pharmacy for a Covid injection and was given a pack of 5 Covid tests free of charge.

Yes I test, so do my adult children if I suggest it, I’m immune suppressed. So far I’ve avoided covid. I hope to avoid covid, flu and RSv this winter

No as it's not required any more just to be treated like a bad cold. DD's (1 teacher, 1 nurse) told not to test as there are no specific rules for schools, NHS staff and causes total confusion with management if you test positive. As I said it is treated like any other bad cold, flu.

ElaineI

No as it's not required any more just to be treated like a bad cold. DD's (1 teacher, 1 nurse) told not to test as there are no specific rules for schools, NHS staff and causes total confusion with management if you test positive. As I said it is treated like any other bad cold, flu.

Unless you are immunocompromised.

Covid is not flu despite what we are encouraged to believe. Have people ever heard of “long flu”? There are thousands in U.K. still suffering from long covid many months or years after contracting covid and this is still happening.

More, mainly elderly or vulnerable die from covid in hospital than flu, even now.

I think it is far too early to be complacent about a virus that is not seasonal and mutates regularly.

Yes, two relatives have recently tested positive for Covid.

Incidentally, does anyone know if the Covids tests are okay to use if they're out of date? I've still got a box full, out of date.

Romola

Incidentally, does anyone know if the Covids tests are okay to use if they're out of date? I've still got a box full, out of date.

We found the liqid in our oldish test kits had mostly evaporated . I tested myself this week as I had been in contact with DD who had tested positive. For all those people who do not bother testing and so are at risk of spreading covid please think of people like my DD who gets very ill if she gets any bad infection . I have yet to get covid though my DH had it three years ago and is still suffering with the after effects .

As a couple at a social function we both contracted Covid we did test positive and won’t forget it in a hurry.
I will continue to test for it I don’t care that it costs money. If it saves other people getting it I think it is worth it I have lack of taste and little interest in food since I had it.
It was horrible and the upset it caused us after being so careful during lockdown will stay with us.

Farzanah

Covid is not flu despite what we are encouraged to believe. Have people ever heard of “long flu”? There are thousands in U.K. still suffering from long covid many months or years after contracting covid and this is still happening.

More, mainly elderly or vulnerable die from covid in hospital than flu, even now.

I think it is far too early to be complacent about a virus that is not seasonal and mutates regularly.

Exactly

I keep a box of tests handy. I only use them occasionally if I have suspicious symptoms and I'm due to go out somewhere. I wouldn't like to pass Covid on to anyone. My niece's partner still suffers long Covid after 2 years, one of them off work and he only suffered mildly at the time.

There is a post on the Good Morning thread, telling of a vulnerable person, who died in hospital from Covid. So not just a cold.

I agree that it is far too early to be complacent about Covid and frankly if people refuse to test because of complacency or because a box of two tests costs £1, then I think they’re selfish. Maybe that’s harsh, but their complacency is harsh too.

Marydoll

I do. If I catch Covid, I have to have an infusion of anti virals.

Me to but you have to start taking them more or less straight away for them to work

Yes. My DH and I had Covid in August and tested to be certain. Nastier than a cold and lasted longer. We also felt that it made us more tired than the first time we had it. Both times, I have lost my sense of smell/taste for a couple of days. Testing meant we could warn a few other people we had been in contact with, although thankfully none caught it from us. Even if the immediate contacts are not high risk, who knows what vulnerable people they might have contact with. It’s the responsible thing to do

dragonfly46

I have just had Covid again for the third time. I know it was Covid because as soon as I started to have symptoms I tested. The first test was negative but the second a day later was positive. I then stayed at home until I was clear.

I keep hearing about friends and acquaintances saying they have had really bad colds etc but never a thought of isolating or testing.

I had to miss a few events I was really looking forward to. How can I avoid getting it again if everyone just goes out and about without testing?

Sorry to sound such a grouch but it would seem Covid isn’t going away despite having all the injections.

Yes, always. I work as a frontline social worker and in the 'age group eligible'. Frequently visit hospital wards (one of which was closed to new admissions recently due to Covid outbreak). I've had all the vaccinations, but it keeps mutating the same as flu with different variants popping up. I will still have the vaccine, it can at least prevent a serious case of Covid. I had Covid for the first time in April (pretty sure I got it on a hospital ward)!

Kary Mullis, who invented the PCR test stated definitely that it was not suitable to be used diagnostically, for illnesses. There is so much nonsense out there around the whole Covid thing. Anyone who is STILL having that experimental technology injected into their bodies...well, maybe it would be better to research a lot more deeply, outside the standard legacy media narrative. I would also ask, why all this panic and obsession about Covid? It might be Covid (whatever that is/was) or it might be flu, or a bad cold. If a person has an infection then it's only good manners to keep away from groups, and give others the choice about whether to come close and risk infection.

undines

Kary Mullis, who invented the PCR test stated definitely that it was not suitable to be used diagnostically, for illnesses. There is so much nonsense out there around the whole Covid thing. Anyone who is STILL having that experimental technology injected into their bodies...well, maybe it would be better to research a lot more deeply, outside the standard legacy media narrative. I would also ask, why all this panic and obsession about Covid? It might be Covid (whatever that is/was) or it might be flu, or a bad cold. If a person has an infection then it's only good manners to keep away from groups, and give others the choice about whether to come close and risk infection.

Yep.....I remember reading the stuff by inventor of that test saying precisely that. I'd have been gutted to have anything I invented mis-used like that. Only too thankful that the couple of things I invented (ie social welfare schemes) have pretty much gone according to my plan (except it looks like one of them got a LOT bigger than I'd envisaged and I know the other one did for sure - but that's fine by me and I feel I've "paid my passage on Earth" with them.

Tiley

Marydoll

I do. If I catch Covid, I have to have an infusion of anti virals.

Me to but you have to start taking them more or less straight away for them to work

There is a twenty four hour window.

I was due a COVID jab last week but was very poorly the day before and tested positive for COVID. My husband tested negative so went ahead with his vaccination but suffered a very bad reaction 24 hours later which lasted for several days. We were both very ill which reinforces our resolve to have the vaccine boosters. I have to wait until next month before I can have my jab

dragonfly46

I have just had Covid again for the third time. I know it was Covid because as soon as I started to have symptoms I tested. The first test was negative but the second a day later was positive. I then stayed at home until I was clear.

I keep hearing about friends and acquaintances saying they have had really bad colds etc but never a thought of isolating or testing.

I had to miss a few events I was really looking forward to. How can I avoid getting it again if everyone just goes out and about without testing?

Sorry to sound such a grouch but it would seem Covid isn’t going away despite having all the injections.

I'm with you here dragonfly.We have long covid, had it since covid first appeared when there were no injections and the virus was powerful. We have been left damaged and depleted by it and we have had it several times since, each time it knocks another chunk out of us.We are only early sixties and it has completely floored us. Husband had to have steroids to help him breathe and is on tablets for life because of what covid did to his lungs.
I know a lot of people don't test and don't keep away from people because we are told that is now 'Only a cold' well maybe for some, but sadly not for others.
I'm afraid that employers telling people they HAVE to go to work with it has continued the spread, nobody these days can miss pay.
It's a sad situation and I'm afraid it's the luck of the draw now if you get it , and how bad.

I wonder if people bother to test if they have cold like symptoms. I was out at a quiz night last Saturday, about 100 people there. On Tuesday I started to feel ill and having had COVID before I knew what it was and the test proved it. I had to cancel a three day trip I should have been on and haven't left my home since Tuesday because of feeling so unwell. I certainly wouldn't want to put others at risk of this horrible illness.

I just had it for the second time. Fairly sure it was because the virus was going round & people I caught it from had tested positive. I didnt test, just assumed it was, we were meant to be going to DiL but as she works with patients in hospital we cancelled because of the probable Covid.I don't routinely test when I get colds.

I have never had it. Have tested whenever family members had it and I had been in contact with them but luckily always negative. All of them have had it more than once and they even joked that I was probably a carrier, well I think they were joking! I even began to think I wasn't doing the test properly! They were grateful during the pandemic as I could do all the running about.
Went for jabs last week but decided to just have the flu jab as my last covid jab has left lasting effects in the muscle so never again. The waiting room was like a sauna on entering so germs must have been having a great time. Walked out to wait by reception to be told we were blocking the doorway. I stayed put and politely let people pass until I was called.