Doh, BIL tested +ve on lft, so they won’t be coming to visit tomorrow, at least until pcr results

It is the result of tireless campaigning by John Prescott.

😁👍🏼

My learning experience, when a c-nut in work says after sneezing “don’t worry its only a cold I’ve had multiple negative tests” either tell then to **** off home asap or exit the area asap.

A month after recovering from Covid they’ve given you, you still have energy crashes daily and sometimes struggle to even get up/down the stairs at home, and then find out in your Xmas pay packet you didn’t get full wages and instead sick pay for the week you took as sick off (only recently getting a new job after being laid off right at the beginning of it all) Lets just say my faith in people has been reduced, and more so for a certain person, who’s on my cr*p list for the near future and isn’t likely to get any willing tech-support on their future bids.

My learning experience, when a c-nut in work says after sneezing “don’t worry its only a cold I’ve had multiple negative tests” either tell then to **** off home asap or exit the area asap.

So we are supposed to isolate when we actually have a cold now?

Jesus

And you can be sure it was this colleague how exactly?!

So we are supposed to isolate when we actually have a cold now?

There was no mention of having a cold, just sneezing. Sometimes people sneeze without having either colds or covid.

Although apparently they should have gone home, despite allegedly “multiple negative tests”.

Edit : Apologies I misread, the offending sneezer did indeed claim to have a cold.

I think the point is that maybe we dont take persons responsibility around illnesses seriously enough
A Chinese colleague ( who spent a term at uni in harsh Chinese lockdown due to SARS) always wore a mask when she got a cold, until one day a guy had a rant in her face on the tube about it.
So she found it quite ironic that the UK has been forced to adopt them now.
Simple mask wearing and personal hygiene, is such a bad thing ?

One thing I’ve noticed is that there were hardly any colds last year, but everyone that’s had one recently has had an absolute stinker.

Maybe we need to catch a cold every now and then?

Maybe we need to catch a cold every now and then?

I think that eventually that will be the case with Covid, constant exposure to it will maintain people’s immunity.

I think that eventually that will be the case with Covid, constant exposure to it will maintain people’s immunity.

You think they’ll let up with the boosters though?

I didn’t read the article properly, so could be tosh, but I scan read that now a 4th shot is coming as efficacy it’s waning after 10 weeks.

It’s getting a bit ridiculous now, but I’m sure I’ll be shot at dawn for that comment.

At the rate they are reducing the time between shots, it will be monthly nay weekly soon

Suspecting and working out who gave you covid (especially if it f’d you up big time long term) is probably one of the reasons at work that we aren’t to inform colleagues if we’ve had it.

I have no problem with a 4th, or more, booster jab. It’s buying us (and NHS wards) time till better treatments come online.

My only concern is that the NHS cannot simply keep a Forth Bridge style perpetual vaccine rollout going. Thank goodness for all the countless volunteers but it’s not sustainable for the NHS.

My hope is that by Winter ’22 (or earlier) it’ll be a yearly jab just as I have my flu jab yearly. Ideally combined.

Also that anti-viral meds are readily available for those particularly at risk as well as preventative measures for those unable to have the vaccine due to medical issues.

Well I’m still waiting for my PCR test result taken at 1400 on Xmas eve.

I’m now on a run of three bad Christmas days and it’s getting to me a bit! First one was when my partner was recovering from chemotherapy, I just want my better half to be able to enjoy life and this pandemic has been very tough for her, as just as she was hoping to get on with life, she got the clinically extremely vulnerable letter…

If it comes back positive then in my opinion, lateral flow tests are useless now. I really feel at the moment that we’re being punished for doing the right thing.

Lateral flow tests have picked up when both my kids have had it, and avoided them passing it on to us, their mates, and more importantly, elderly vulnerable relatives.

The theory seems to be that Covid will become more “cold like” with time, and we’ll have protection through exposure, vaccination and treatments as we do with flu.

We’re not at that point yet. Our previously under resourced NHS simply can’t cope with the additional pressure it creates. We have to keep riding each wave in the meantime.

Some exposure to colds is normal will prime our immune systems and not harm the vast majority of us. But I really don’t want to have a week off the bike feeling shit 3-4 times a year because Barry from accounts thought he looked a bit of a hero coming in to work coughing and sneezing and not wearing a mask.

I had a positive LFT on Christmas Eve. I did it just before going to visit my dad in hospital and I’d been to see him on 23rd having had a negative LFT. The ward went into lockdown and dad got moved to a single room when he informed them of my positive LFT.

Second LFT on Christmas morning was negative, PCR was negative and all the family I’ve been in contact with were negative so looks like a false positive on LFT.

Despite all that I still think they are really useful provided people use them correctly i.e. isolate after a positive until PCR confirmation and not put too much faith in a negative if you have symptoms or have been in close contact with an infected person.

Apologies if already posted but there’s some good discussion of the merits of LFTs here (not behind the paywall).

https://www.ft.com/content/cbd0fb0a-8c41-4b9b-aa4c-0afa10619383

These don’t sound like impressive numbers:

But rapid lateral flow tests have always been imperfect, detecting an average of 72 per cent of symptomatic cases, and 58 per cent of asymptomatic ones, according to a meta-analysis of studies by the medical database the Cochrane Library.

There must have been significant numbers of people who will have had a negative result and assumed they can go out to a party or gig or family dinner or whatever.

It’s also a fairly short period after infection when LFTs are likely to be effective.

This part is worth highlighting:

Repeating tests can make the results more robust, so many experts endorse the government recommendation for vaccinated people exposed to the virus to test for seven days straight.

Suspecting and working out who gave you covid (especially if it f’d you up big time long term) is probably one of the reasons at work that we aren’t to inform colleagues if we’ve had it.

Bizarre, you don’t tell folk that they may have been exposed to covid?. Its not a badge of shame, just a highly contagious virus.

Well I’m still waiting for my PCR test result taken at 1400 on Xmas eve.

I was told in the drive-in test centre on Christmas Eve to expect my PCR result in 24-48 hours and that if I didn’t receive it to phone 111 quoting the barcode number on the packaging that the test came in.

So we are supposed to isolate when we actually have a cold now?

No, just think of other people a little bit, don’t sneeze on them, and maybe just stop off work if you’re ill?

Our previously under resourced NHS simply can’t cope with the additional pressure it creates.

Whilst I won’t deny resources being wasted and poured down the drain on unnecessary bureaucracy/internal market/PPPs to make wealthy people wealthier, it shouldn’t be forgotten just what the NHS can and has achieved with one hand tied behind its back, and is still achieving :

The UK surpassed Israel to become the world’s second-most boosted nation against COVID-19, with 45% of its population having received three vaccine doses,

https://www.businessinsider.com/uk-israel-booster-shots-most-boosted-against-covid-christmas-vaccination-2021-12

The UK has a population three times the size of Chile and six times the size of Israel, to add to logistical issues.

These don’t sound like impressive numbers

They’ve never been that great but they’re cheap, quick,  and are useful for finding the asymptomatic who would otherwise just be going about their business oblivious. My suspicion is that they are now being used as a ‘test to release’ has more to do with testing capacity and a shortage of personnel than anything else.

@ernielynch

Lol I was told to ring 119 if I hadn’t heard in 3 days, I rang them this morning just to check they had registered my test against my QR code.

They did admit there was a delay due to the sheer number of tests.

My girlfriend is still waiting on her result, I got mine on Xmas eve, and we both took the test together on the 23rd. Odd.

They did admit there was a delay due to the sheer number of tests.

You are unlucky, I had my PCR at 9am Christmas Eve and got the result 11am yesterday.

I don’t know about the distribution of the centres where they actually test but I do know that a few days ago Croydon had the tenth highest cases of Covid in the UK, I think all the others were probably in London, so I was surprised how quickly I got my result.

hmmm I had a positive lateral flow test since the 23rd and have been isolating since with symptoms like a mild cold.

PCR test taken on the 24th came back negative, very confused now.

Chap I was in a play with has covid and posted pictures of himself at his mum’s yesterday, but it’s ok because they socially distanced, kept the windows open and he wore a mask (not whilst eating, I’ll be bound). Heard a few similar stories – seems insanity to me. It’s one day – just do it in a couple of weeks.

Seems to me that the Omicron varient will lead us down the road from pandemic to endemic. In the long run the most transmissible variant will win. If there are two of equal transmissibility, the one that is least lethal will ultimately win, for obvious reasons. After all the virus isn’t out to kill us, it just wants hosts. The more that survive the greater the number of potential hosts. Not that the virus is doing the maths, but ultimately survival of the fittest means that more transmissible, less dangerous varients will ultimately prevail.

Given the fact that hospitalisations currently seem to be significantly lower than at a similar stage of the Alpha and Delta waves, it looks like we’re on the right track.

Fingers crossed it stays this way. I’ve missed a second Xmas with aged parents and this time with my teens as their mum is shielding and didn’t want them coming to a covid house.

Fwiw I had minor cold symptoms last Sunday evening. LFT negative. LFT again on Monday morning (symptoms still minor, slight sore throat, slightly moist nose). Symptoms got a bit heavier through the day. LFT Monday evening, heavy line positive within seconds. Couldn’t have been more conclusive. Straight into isolation. Took PCR on Tuesday morning and another LFT on Tuesday evening (massive positive again). PCR came back positive on Wednesday morning. Cold like symptoms until yesterday. Faint positive on LFT yesterday. Negative today (hooray).

So 6.5 days from first symptoms, 5.5 from first positive to testing negative again. Very minor illness, though triple jabbed, which seems to bear out the research that shows it attacking higher up in the respiratory system, less in the lungs.

Pretty much everyone I know who has tested positive on the LFT has been a day or so after symptoms have appeared. Hopefully this means it is more like flu and more transmissible once symptoms have appeared..

Still waiting #aprisonerforcaution, still getting -ve lateral flows but got a sore throat, fuzzy head and now diarrhoea so am not going to risk mixing with relatives until I get the results.

Really quite fed up.

@funkrodent – that sounds pretty similar to me over the last week

Negative test Monday afternoon before out MNPR night out (we all tested, all negative), started with symptoms on Tuesday morning but was still testing negative, positive test Tuesday afternoon, felt like death on Tuesday night with flu-like symptoms, positive PCR test on Wednesday morning

I’ve felt better and better each day since, though still feeling tired, just done another test and it’s the faintest of faint lines on a positive. Managed to do a few miles on the turbo this morning so lungs are fine. Hoping for a negative test tomorrow. Fingers crossed!

Hurray for vaccines. Triple jabbed and extremely grateful for that

You are unlucky, I had my PCR at 9am Christmas Eve and got the result 11am yesterday.

Had mine 10am Christmas Eve and still no result. Phoned up earlier to chase it and they said it hasnt been processed yet, most haven’t that they’ve been contacted about. Just got to wait a bit longer.

I’ve been feeling a bit shit since Friday ( headache/sore throat) but put it down to having a booster on Thursday.
I tested LFT negative on Fri/Sat then a very faint positive this morning.
Just been for a PCR, hope that if I am positive I didn’t pass Covid onto my elderly inlaws yesterday.

.Phoned up earlier to chase it and they said it hasnt been processed yet, most haven’t that they’ve been contacted about.

Kind of self selecting though?

I’d wager that multiple +ve lft, and a -ve PCR means a false negative PCR rather than 3 false positives.

Result just came through: negative. Still feel very weak though so got to decide whether to go to my parents tomorrow or delay a few extra days just to be safe.

A basic question – maybe a bit elementary, but still …

when we say that variant X “outcompetes” variant Y, what exactly is the nature of that competition? What resource is being competed for?

A related question – is there any reason why a person who gets (say) Omicron cannot ALSO get Delta?

My partner’s PCR has came back negative as well now.

So that’s 5 positive lfts out of 6 taken, but 2 negative PCR tests. Not really sure what to make of that.

An interesting question regarding what covid strains are ‘competing’ for because it would appear prima facie that it isn’t a zero-sum game.

what exactly is the nature of that competition? What resource is being competed for?

Under the present conditions the human body I would have thought!

If someone catches omicron, which everyone agrees is much easier to catch than delta, and they are then forced into isolation, then that is a potential delta victim out of circulation. When they eventually emerge from isolation they will likely have some immunity to both omicron and delta, so delta will have missed the boat with regards to finding a host to multiple in.

Furthermore if omicron is much milder than delta then people are more likely to walk around carrying it than delta, giving it plenty of opportunities to spread at a faster rate than delta.