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Does anyone test for Covid anymore?

(204 Posts)
dragonfly46 Thu 24-Oct-24 09:41:31

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.

PamelaJ1 Thu 24-Oct-24 11:53:38

I work in close contact with people who have or are living with
family who have health issues.
Recently I spent a holiday with family who tested positive for Covid when they got home. They thought they ‘had a bit of a bug’ whilst we were away.
I didn’t catch it but warned all my clients that I might have done. My mum,96, did get it but was fine.
Some of my clients were happy to come in some weren’t. I think they were glad they had been warned.
I tested every morning for a week.

Marydoll Thu 24-Oct-24 11:51:00

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

Farzanah Thu 24-Oct-24 11:50:58

I have had Covid for the last 10 days and have been, and am feeling quite ill, and a bit of a cold it certainly isn’t. The cough is persisting and I have lost half a stone. I will isolate until I test negative. Spent £20 on tests already. I can see why people don’t bother, but I think it is selfish because there is likely to be an increase in hospital admissions from covid this winter, with older and vulnerable people disproportionately affected. The NHS is in a poor state already.

I’m amazed when I’ve visited in hospital to see that nurses are still wearing the flimsy, ineffective blue masks, if wearing masks at all!

Mollygo Thu 24-Oct-24 11:43:28

AGAA4

I don't test but if I have an infection I stay at home for at least 5 days. Nobody wants covid but they don't want colds and flu either.

Doing that, and wearing masks are two of the reasons there was less flu around during the Covid epidemic.
A checkout assistant in Booths was lamenting the loss of screens when I was there yesterday. She enjoyed not being coughed and sneezed over.

AGAA4 Thu 24-Oct-24 11:32:02

I don't test but if I have an infection I stay at home for at least 5 days. Nobody wants covid but they don't want colds and flu either.

Baggs Thu 24-Oct-24 11:31:09

Nope. It is no longer required where I work even though it is an organisation caring for, among others, clinically vulnerable old people.

There have been zero problems. Nobody has been diagnosed with covid amongst our clients.

There were no problems "during" the pandemic either when we were testing like billyo.

I have heard that PCR tests are not very good anyway and often pick up other similar viruses. Sounds like a money-making doobry to me.

rosie1959 Thu 24-Oct-24 11:24:36

I would still test if I felt unwell but I have had Covid twice with zero symptoms so unless I constantly test I would not know if I had it or not.

1summer Thu 24-Oct-24 11:16:23

I recently had Covid, I tested although I was certain I had it. My SIL was at work a couple of weeks before I had it and starting vomiting and felt terrible, His boss said to him to test as they had a load of test kits in the office. He was positive, subsequently my daughter and 5 month old grandson caught it and were very poorly. I had to help look after granddaughter who didn’t get it.
Then 2 weeks later I had it and felt really poorly, 3 days vomiting, terrible headaches, and muscle aches. Didn’t test negative for 10 days.

Mollygo Thu 24-Oct-24 11:15:16

I tested when I was ill a few days after my flu/covid vax. It must just have been a severe reaction, though I did test again when DH was ill a few days later.
As Sparklefizz said, when we went for our vaccines at the docs the queue was full of coughs and colds. I was surprised they were still giving the vaccines when people were already unwell.

When I run out of my current stock, I’ve tests, I probably won’t bother.

Granmarderby10 Thu 24-Oct-24 11:11:45

As for not going to work - well some people haven’t got that luxury. I suppose there are always masks, - I’ve seen a fair few people wearing them.😷

Skydancer Thu 24-Oct-24 11:02:46

It’s difficult. We no longer know the statistics. We don’t know how many people die OF it now rather than die WITH it. I think people should be encouraged to wear masks on public transport. I also think food handlers should wear them irrespective of Covid.

Granmarderby10 Thu 24-Oct-24 11:02:46

I have seen tests for flu at Tesco I think it’s possible to buy just one. I hadn’t know such a test existed.
Sometimes it is useful to know, so you can take more care.
I have received both Covid and Flu vaccines.

Tiley Thu 24-Oct-24 10:58:26

Visgir1

No... Not worth it.

So if you think it's not worth it do you keep away from elderly family members etc if you think you may have covid?

grannyqueenie Thu 24-Oct-24 10:50:13

My daughter is a frontline worker in the NHS and she doesn’t have to test if she’s unwell. As long as she feels well enough she can go to work. Last week she and her 4year old were very under the weather with coughs and both had a day off work and school. Although beginning to feel better she tested (negative) before coming to us at the weekend. Her dad was due a minor op this week and she was worried about passing anything to the “oldies”. In the event they were lots better by the time they came to ours but I did appreciate her concern, her description not so much!

madalene Thu 24-Oct-24 10:21:21

I would test if I had symptoms and I’d expect DH to do so too. My family will stay away if they have symptoms, but unsure if they would test.
If I was unlucky enough to get Covid again, I would isolate until I felt better and tested negative.

madalene Thu 24-Oct-24 10:18:11

NotSpaghetti

"Holds and glue" grin
Colds and 'flu!

grin

JenniferEccles Thu 24-Oct-24 10:17:43

The situation now, as we all know, is that covid is not going away.
Now it’s here, we have to live with it and behave in the same way as we would if we had flu. In other words, stay at home until we feel better.

I have had covid twice despite having all the jabs offered to me, and I can say that even though I had it ‘mildly’ ( in that I didn’t remotely need hospital treatment) I felt pretty rough and I knew before I tested that it was more than a cold.

I therefore stayed at home, keeping away from people just as most of us would do with flu.

Babs03 Thu 24-Oct-24 10:03:46

We tested when feeling ropy after going to a funeral but no I don’t think people do tend to test anymore they come down with symptoms and just call it a bad cold.
I can understand that, after all most people get it mildly and you do have to pay for tests. Would always test when going to see an elderly friend of ours whom we visit sometimes because she was shielding during covid and we mix a lot with the GCs.
In cases like that I think people should either take a test or mask up when visiting 🤔

MaizieD Thu 24-Oct-24 10:00:22

DH and I have had it twice in the last 18 months. We tested each time and isolated. I don't think it is at all responsible to not test and to risk passing it to other people.

There is, according to people I follow on twitter, a new and more lethal variant around which the NHS appears to be getting serious about...

pascal30 Thu 24-Oct-24 09:56:23

I've started wearing a mask on buses as they can be packed and the windows are no longer opened now it is colder.. nobody I know seems to test though there are numerous colds and sore throats about.. I didn't test last time I had a fluey type illness but I also didn't go out for a few days..

tanith Thu 24-Oct-24 09:55:26

I would if I had symptoms I wouldn’t want to pass it on to family or friends I have babies in the family.

NotSpaghetti Thu 24-Oct-24 09:53:23

"Holds and glue" grin
Colds and 'flu!

Visgir1 Thu 24-Oct-24 09:52:54

No... Not worth it.

NotSpaghetti Thu 24-Oct-24 09:52:38

The injection doesn't prevent you getting it.
It alerts the immune system so you are more able to fight it off.

I tested for covid and was positive when my son was supposedly visiting us from the US for 5 days (before a week in Spain with friends).
😕
He stayed in a hotel and then with a friend in the end ... and I saw him outside for a coffee.

People are going to work and traveling about with this and it makes me cross. I don't spread holds and glue about either.

Sparklefizz Thu 24-Oct-24 09:49:26

Many people are not testing, including friends of mine. When I went to the surgery for my 'Flu jab, the waiting room was full of coughing sneezy people. Not one was wearing a mask (I was!) I wear a mask every time I leave the house. I'd rather not, but seeing as others are spreading their germs round........