Do normal people not bother testing now?

When we test it’s to protect others, not ourselves, because we test to find out if we’re positive or not. We cannot necessarily stop ourselves from getting Covid despite all the precautions we may take, but we can stop ourselves from passing Covid on if we’re unfortunate enough to get it. So testing an altruistic action, designed to protect others. That’s why we should do it, and that’s why it’s selfish to refuse.

We are still testing about once a week and generally before we are in close contact with anyone. We tested before we went to the dentist, I test before I go for massage and beauty treatments and we are still asked to test before we go to our choir session. We haven’t had COVID and I’m happy to keep testing to protect myself and others. My choir leader who is in his early 30s had covid in the year and it has left him with a limited vocal range and another friend who had it recently had more than a month with no voice and is still struggling with her voice. It def hasn’t gone a way.

There are lots of other nasty bugs around. I am just about fully recovered from what the doctor diagnosed as a severe bacterial infection. The kind that can turn into sepsis.

I was ill for six weeks from start to finish, including a couple of days in hospital and I am now building my stamina up again. Six weeks unable to do much other than lie around and feel sorry for myself is really bad for fitness and exercise routines and I reckon it will be another month before those is back to normal. In my late 70s, it really is use it or lose it.

In fact during the COVID saga, both DH and DD were critically ill for months and came close to death, but none of us have had COVID

I have had a horrendous virus for the last 10 days. Far worse than when I had Covid. I’ve tested every other day and always tested negative. Only my 1 year old GS had it too. I’m getting better now but feel so tired and washed out.

The pandemic is over for most of us, my husband died just before covid, I had it badly just before it became famous. He would have got it and died of it so was grateful he didn’t have that as well. Mostly now I never think about it, all my adult children have had it and probably the little ones too. I’m sorry for CEV which my husband would have been (cancer) but life goes on and we cannot hide. Many other illnesses have affected our tiny people (hepatitis for example) because they didn’t encounter normal viruses at nursery, mums and tots etc, that worries me far more. I won’t test again unless poorly or visiting a poorly person/hospital. I don’t feel bad about that.

I hope you’re feeling better now Candelle. The anti viral infusion was one of the first treatments that I was given when I was taken into hospital with Covid.
Many people simply don’t care. They’ve been given the impression that the pandemic is over. It’s not!

We all have the lurgy. I tested and am negative. When I cancelled disabled adult dc's day centre last week they asked if we had tested him. We hadn't and as I was cancelling everything, I didn't see the point in distressing him; however I will need to get a negative result over the weekend before he goes back.

My husband is CEV and in hospital at the moment (not with Covid). I have to spend over an hour on the bus each way to visit him, and it really worries me that there may be people with Covid on the bus. Hardly anyone wears masks unfortunately.

I tested after feeling Ill upon returning from holiday and was positive. I isolated as much as I could and felt really rough with it for at least 10 days

I am CEV and immunosuppressed and recently caught Covid. We saw a friend socially (we were sitting outside) but they had Covid confirmed the following day and we followed suit four days later.....

The NHS were brilliant and I had an anti-viral infusion in hospital (in a negative pressure room with two sets of doors) within a day and a half which I believe kept me from becoming very ill.
Incidentally, I was Covid positive for 11 days.

I have written previously that I was amazed to be told by the NHS contact that there was no requirement for me to isolate and a contributor here advised that this had been the case since early this year. Little wonder that Covid increased this spring/summer.

I was admitted to hospital (an illness unrelated to Covid) last week whilst having Covid and the hospital took my Covid very seriously.

In A and E I was taken to a room (on my own) which couldn't be opened from my side.

On admission I was given a room, again, the only occupant. There was notice on the corridor side of the doors to tell staff that I was Covid positive etc. I was asked to put a mask on anytime a cleaner, nurse, pharmacist or doctor entered the room.

If Covid is really 'something we should live with' why the attitude here?

People are still dying due to Covid but the public attitude in general is that the pandemic is over.

I had a dental appointment this afternoon and not one of the five patients in the waiting room wore masks (I did!).

If you have a modicum of decency, please don't go to busy places if you feel unwell - you could stop someone's becoming ill with Covid.

i still test myself, just recently got a box of testing kits from nhs scotland, i am around elderly people and have hospital appointments, you don't have to isolate but i prefer to just in case i passed it on to someone who could get really ill because of other illnesses that they have.

M0nica

I have yet to come across anyone near me who has had COVID. if I had any reason to think I had COVID I would take a test and always do if someone asks me to, but so far we seem to be a COVID free zone.

How lucky you are then Monica. I had Covid before the vaccinations were available and I was in hospital for twelve days, on oxygen for all that time, and had many drug treatments, about eight in all. For that reason I take Covid extremely seriously, even though I know that as I’m triple vaccinated, and having had the illness badly, I’m probably unlikely to be that ill again. I respect my two friends who are vulnerable because they have cancer and I test before I see them. I also test before I visit my elderly mother in her care home, or my father in law in his care home. I protect myself (and others) by wearing a mask in shops and some other public places, including when I travelled by train to London. I will both test and wear a mask when we travel by plane to Greece in September and to New Zealand in November. Quite possibly when we travel by ferry to France later this month. I wear FFP2 or FFP3 masks. I don’t know if the person in the queue next to me at the supermarket or cinema is positive and selfishly still going out and about, or if that person hasn’t tested but is positive.
I’m living my life, but I’m careful. I realise I could still get Covid anyway, but I take the precautions that I hope will protect me and my family.

M0nica

Why on earth would anyone take down your comments Nittwitt? I think you have delusions of grandeur.

I didn't say anything about comments being taken down.
You are mistaken.

I have yet to come across anyone near me who has had COVID. if I had any reason to think I had COVID I would take a test and always do if someone asks me to, but so far we seem to be a COVID free zone.

My daughter, her husband and two children have just had COVID, they all tested before and after and stayed home and allowed no one to visit. Most of the people I know all test if they've been around people that come down with it or they feel unwell as do I.

All this testing is not neccesary now as Covid is not serious in the vaccinated

Totally false information.

It is dangerous for me, and others who ate CEV. And also for some who are not CEV as it happens.

My son and his ex both work in retail so test if they have symptoms and took the time off when they did have it. DD and her family test regularly because they are taking part in a government survey.

I test before going to a crowded environment, a cinema for instance, and then again a couple if days later. This is because I caught covid in a half empty cinema in May. As I’m clinically vulnerable I reported the result and was immediately prescribed anti viral drugs. My symptoms resembled mild hay fever but there’s no guarantee they’d always be that mild.

I have been back to living a normal life for a long time now, without tests or masks. I think there is now little connection between whether you mask, test etc and whether you get COVID or not.

DH, DD (especially) and I, have not been worrying about precautions - and DD commutes by train between home and work in central London several days a week, unmasked, and none of us have had COVID. We are all fully vaccinated.

Message deleted by Gransnet. Here's a link to our Talk guidelines.

I would test before if i was meeting up with family or friends… and i would test if i felt unwell…. so far ? i have been very careful and not caught Covid…. it’s still out there and a lot of people in my area have it….

I'll continue to test just before health care appointments, then when I've run out of supplies it'll be in the hands of the Gods. Not sure whether this is the right thing to do but it seems logical to me. We can only do our best, can't we?

Grandparent raising granddaughter here.
I'm personally sick of testing after all the time off for every sniffle of putting my granddaughter through nursery.
Testing her every time she had a cold, which is every other week after lockdown and not meeting anyone from a baby was just cruel.
So she was constantly having time off while she isolated.
So No we don't test anymore.
We have had it twice officially this year.

Who are the 'normal' people??

We all tested, and have kept testing until we know we're not positive. Otherwise is plain wrong. It's a horrible illness and I still feel ill 2 weeks later. Given the chances of long covid, which can be life changing, I think it's wrong to treat it lightly.