Got Covid ! My experience...

[thirdcrank]

Perhaps part of the reason you are confused is that you seem to be taking two opposite positions simultaneously:

• 1. You had no symptoms

.

• 2. You had symptoms.

Then, you are ignoring the purpose of this advice, preferring to see at as some sort of linguistic quiz.

AIUI, a big issue in your household in connection with this has been the planned visit of Mrs MickF to other members of your family. Now, it seems to me that one very big issue here is whether that can go ahead safely eg without the risk that they will become infected. (Ditto other fellow travellers.) The virus won't be remotely interested in the rules - even less your interpretation of them.

And I presume you didn't bother with my suggestion of a flow chart.

[slowster]

BBC News used the chart below on many of its articles on household isolation last year to illustrate how isolation periods could differ between family members.



However I did not understand why Child 2's isolation period did not continue until the end of the father's isolation period. It seemed that an assumption was made that if Child 2 had failed to catch Covid from the mother, it would not catch it later from the father, i.e. it appears that child is effectively assumed to be immune.

[Psamathe]

Also necessary to recognise that people can catch Covid and be asymptomatic and still spread the disease. Hence the Gov. putting in place DIY routine lateral flow testing at home (for those who regard being responsible and not spreading a pandemic as worthwhile).

There is nothing that can be done about the fact that some people are asymptomatic - that is the disease not anybody's choice. Similarly, lateral flow test is not reliable in that it can miss people who do have infection - but it's cheap and easy to distribute and do and is better than nothing (given it's not practical for people to DIY PCR tests).

In a pandemic there is an onus on everybody to be responsible and avoid spreading (i.e. not playing linguistic gymnastics and avoiding self-testing). Going to the pub increases your risk of contaminated surfaces and/or asymptomatic people. Going to the pub regularly increases tat risk further making routine self-testing even more important. Covid is a killer not a game!

Ian

[Mick F]

Hi guys,

TC, I did have a play with sort of chart. Inconclusive really.

That chart from BBC is utterly incorrect.
As the family live in the same household, they all have to isolate until ten days after the last case ........ the Dad.
Isolation for any of them cannot end until then.



We are in a quandary here.
Ok, Mrs Mick F's trip is cancelled. We can live with that.

She is negative, and likely to remain so. I could well have been infected and positive late last week - maybe Thursday 29th July - when I thought about symptoms, I noticed my taste buds felt different. That was all. Eventually took a test and found I'm positive. I could have been positive for quite a few days before my tests.

Took another LF test this morning, and the T line is very very indistinct. It's there, but only just.

So, here's the quandary ......

Just say I test tomorrow or Tuesday and I'm negative.
What happens then?
Say I go for a PCR test and that's negative too.
Mrs Mick F remains negative also.

Continue isolation or not?
There doesn't seem to be any instructions for that scenario.

[Psamathe]

Hi guys,

TC, I did have a play with sort of chart. Inconclusive really.

That chart from BBC is utterly incorrect.
As the family live in the same household, they all have to isolate until ten days after the last case ........ the Dad.
Isolation for any of them cannot end until then.



We are in a quandary here.
Ok, Mrs Mick F's trip is cancelled. We can live with that.

She is negative, and likely to remain so. I could well have been infected and positive late last week - maybe Thursday 29th July - when I thought about symptoms, I noticed my taste buds felt different. That was all. Eventually took a test and found I'm positive. I could have been positive for quite a few days before my tests.

Took another LF test this morning, and the T line is very very indistinct. It's there, but only just.

So, here's the quandary ......

Just say I test tomorrow or Tuesday and I'm negative.
What happens then?
Say I go for a PCR test and that's negative too.
Mrs Mick F remains negative also.

Continue isolation or not?
There doesn't seem to be any instructions for that scenario.

What exactly are you trying to do? Covid is a dangerous easily spread infectious disease. You have caught it and can spread it to others and you seem to be trying to play the rules to "get out early" rather than considering the risk you represent to others.

Ian

[Mick F]

No!
You're missing the point.

Take a test for no other reason than you can, and all your household too. All show negative. End of story.

Take a test and find you are positive. Could have been positive and asymptomatic for days on end. The rest of the family take a test, and they are all negative but the whole family has to isolate for ten days because of you.

What happens, if they are all still negative, and you take another test and you are negative?

The rules are the rules.
I'm not arguing or complaining or trying to evade them.
It's just that the rules were laid down before the majority were double-jabbed, and also, come the 16th of this month, the whole idea of the double-jabbed changes and they don't have to isolate.

What's the difference in the 16th and now ......... considering I could well have served my ten days by now because I don't know when my symptoms started ........ I picked Monday 2nd because it seemed sort of likely, but it could have been three or four days earlier.

If I'm missing a point here, please explain.
I'm mystified.

[Cowsham]

Hi guys,

TC, I did have a play with sort of chart. Inconclusive really.

That chart from BBC is utterly incorrect.
As the family live in the same household, they all have to isolate until ten days after the last case ........ the Dad.
Isolation for any of them cannot end until then.



We are in a quandary here.
Ok, Mrs Mick F's trip is cancelled. We can live with that.

She is negative, and likely to remain so. I could well have been infected and positive late last week - maybe Thursday 29th July - when I thought about symptoms, I noticed my taste buds felt different. That was all. Eventually took a test and found I'm positive. I could have been positive for quite a few days before my tests.

Took another LF test this morning, and the T line is very very indistinct. It's there, but only just.

So, here's the quandary ......

Just say I test tomorrow or Tuesday and I'm negative.
What happens then?
Say I go for a PCR test and that's negative too.
Mrs Mick F remains negative also.

Continue isolation or not?
There doesn't seem to be any instructions for that scenario.

What exactly are you trying to do? Covid is a dangerous easily spread infectious disease. You have caught it and can spread it to others and you seem to be trying to play the rules to "get out early" rather than considering the risk you represent to others.

Ian

He's looking out to the pub cos Mrs F is giving him a daily earfull.

[thirdcrank]

Being double jabbed doesn't affect this directly: the point is that no matter what somebody's medical history the relevant bit of the email which is upsetting you is this:

Your coronavirus PCR test (or other lab test) result is positive. It’s likely you had the virus when the test was done.

I get the impression from your posts on this thread - without going back to look - that you had assumed that being double-jabbed meant that you could not possibly have become infected (in spite of daily visits to your local.) Having taken that position you were committed to it. All that seems to be happening now is that you are still digging in.

And the email isn't intended to cover every possible circumstance, just the basic guidance for somebody who has tested positive in a PCR test. In my words: if the test was in response to symptoms, then the relevant date is when they started and if not, it's the date of the first positive test. Now, one possible circumstance - heaven forbid - is that after the period of self-isolation (however you measure it) you become seriously ill. To state the obvious, the fact that you have completed the period of self-isolation would be utterly irrelevant.

It's not like totting up endorsements on a driving licence: no loopholes.

[Cowsham]

Here's a get out for you Mick -- it's a bit dangerous since it involves making Mrs F even angrier.

Tell her she could have asymptomaticly brought the virus home and recovered before you got symptoms. Then take cover.

[thirdcrank]

IME, people who have been desperately worried sometimes become angry when their fears are alleviated. eg Child out late; parents worried sick; child comes home safe; parents get very angry. Now, I fancy the loyal Mrs MickF - married to him in 1973 - has been very worried by her husband having what sound like quite bad symptoms, not helped by his disbelief, and any anger now is the reaction to that as his condition improves.

[Mick F]

Tell her she could have asymptomaticly brought the virus home and recovered before you got symptoms. Then take cover.

Already been discussed!
It's HER fault!

Now, I fancy the loyal Mrs MickF - married to him in 1973 - has been very worried by her husband having what sound like quite bad symptoms, not helped by his disbelief, and any anger now is the reaction to that as his condition improves.

Yes, married in '73.
No, not bad symptoms in the slightest.
Not my disbelief. I have it and I'm fine with that. Full stop.
Not angry, though she was due to the situation that we tested ourselves for the only reason we were given a box of 25 tests.
She, like me, awfully regret we even tested ourselves.

Only "symptom" I had was a strange taste in my mouth and lack of taste-bud sensation. I could easily have ignored that and carried on regardless. I had a tired feeling, but that's not unusual for me anyway.
None of it was worth writing home about.

We tested coz we had the devices to do it. That's all.
Now all hell has broken loose.

My question is sincere.
If she remains negative, and I test negative tomorrow, what happens to the ten days isolating schedule?
The rules don't even consider subsequent testing during isolation of the (previously) positive person considering the rest of the household remain negative.

[slowster]

That chart from BBC is utterly incorrect.
As the family live in the same household, they all have to isolate until ten days after the last case ........ the Dad.
Isolation for any of them cannot end until then.

Once someone is infected, they will only be infectious for a short period. The mother and Child 1 in that chart cannot transmit the infection after the end of their respective isolation periods.

[Mick F]

I agree.

Check out the rules though.

Mrs Mick F is negative. She has to isolate due to me being positive until my isolation ends.
Should she become positive before my isolation ends, I will have to continue to isolate until her isolation ends.
Isolation of neither of us can end until we are both clear.

In the BBC example, they all need to isolate until the dad is clear.

For all we know, she could be incubating the virus.
Also, just coz I've had it once, doesn't mean I can't get it again.
The rules could have us isolating permanently as we could get the virus one after the other ad infinitum.

[thirdcrank]

I've obviously completely misread the situation. I had jumped to the conclusion - apparently barking up the wrong tree - that Mrs MickF could see that her husband was unwell and was understandably worried. Boxes of test kits aren't like boxes of chocolates and so I had wrongly assumed that she had sourced them from a good friend who understood her concerns. One way or another she got him to badger himself into taking a lateral flow test which was positive and confirmed by the result of the PCR test.

On the subject of Mrs MickF being angry, at one point that was her husband's description.

[thirdcrank]

A few weeks ago, one of my grandchildren was sent home from school - and not for the first time - because another pupil in the class had tested positive. On this occasion, a positive lateral flow test was confirmed by a PCR so the whole household strictly self-isolated for the full period as advised. Fortunately, no major illness but some five days later my double-jabbed daughter-in-law had symptoms and tested positive. Self-isolating again in accordance with the instructions received. No ifs or buts.