RootsChat.Com
General => The Stay Safe Board => Topic started by: Gillg on Tuesday 29 June 21 10:40 BST (UK)
-
Not very, is my answer. Let me tell you why.
My daughter and I were about to set off on a long-planned journey to visit relatives 300 miles away in Cumbria. Just as we were leaving the house she received a phone call from her boss to tell her that one of her work colleagues had tested positive for Covid-19. She had already arranged to pick up her children from school early, so we had to collect them, but she took a lateral flow test before we left to do that. It showed negative. At her workplace they take lateral flow tests twice a week and she had been negative all the time. We picked up the children and sat in the car debating what to do, then rang our Cumbrian relatives and cancelled the trip. Early the following morning she took a PCR test which showed her to be positive. The lateral flow test was still showing negative and has continued to do so for several days now since the PCR test. I also took a PCR test since I had been in close contact with her for a couple of hours. Luckily it was negative, but I am now keeping out of everyone's way in Covid quarantine for 10 days.
She has now lost all faith in the lateral flow tests. We are now wondering whether these large gatherings (football matches, Wimbledon, concerts, etc.) which require a negative test result from attendees are actually demanding PCR tests or just lateral flow tests. If the latter, expect an increase in the number of infections recorded - oh, wait a minute, isn't that what is happening now.....?
-
https://www.fda.gov/medical-devices/safety-communications/stop-using-innova-medical-group-sars-cov-2-antigen-rapid-qualitative-test-fda-safety-communication
https://www.fiercebiotech.com/medtech/u-k-doubles-down-use-rapid-covid-test-after-fda-urged-users-to-throw-it-away
-
Thanks, Gadget. That's very interesting. I have looked at the box of lateral flow tests issued by the NHS and find that they were manufactured under contract to the DHSC by a firm in China for the NHS Test & Trace (Xiamen Biotime Biotechnology Co. Ltd).
5 days quarantine and counting and so far no symptoms and no positive result for me. My daughter also has no symptoms and is not enjoying her isolation in her bedroom. Meanwhile her husband is looking after her children, both under 10, the house and his business. (Now he knows what it has been like for her, juggling home schooling, home and job! :) )
-
lateral flow are a worthwhile tool in that they will pick up the majority of +ves.
That alone reduces the chance of onward transmission.
We cannot assume at any event/occasion even where everyone has has a -ve test result that the result was 100% accurate, and we should still treat everything and everyone as a festering cesspit of infection.
Pauline
-
Not easy if all covid regs are withdrawn on July 19th. Presumably can no longer expect or ask people to remain 2m distance and no mask wearing. Even if one continues to wear a mask onself we have been told countless times that it does not protect the wearer but everyone else - so why would one want to continue to wear one?
Pheno
-
Not easy if all covid regs are withdrawn on July 19th. Presumably can no longer expect or ask people to remain 2m distance and no mask wearing. Even if one continues to wear a mask onself we have been told countless times that it does not protect the wearer but everyone else - so why would one want to continue to wear one?
Pheno
BIB - Only that is not wholly correct.
As is being reported on the news and in papers today it is the type of mask that determines how useful they are or not.
It appears that the FFP3 (see article) can be up to 100 per cent effective for the wearer
http://www.rootschat.com/links/01qph/
-
I was aware of this issue but still took it to be more effective for the wearer not to transmit, having caught from a patient. At least that was the slant being put on it on the radio this morning.
However, if not, how many people are going to go around wearing one of those type of fully enclosed filter masks?
Pheno
-
As is being reported on the news and in papers today it is the type of mask that determines how useful they are or not.
It appears that the FFP3 (see article) can be up to 100 per cent effective for the wearer
http://www.rootschat.com/links/01qph/
https://www.rootschat.com/forum/index.php?topic=827641.msg6916306#msg6916306
Add - I recall that there were possibly a couple more threads on FFP3s, etc. around the same time.
-
lateral flow are a worthwhile tool in that they will pick up the majority of +ves.
That alone reduces the chance of onward transmission.
We cannot assume at any event/occasion even where everyone has has a -ve test result that the result was 100% accurate, and we should still treat everything and everyone as a festering cesspit of infection.
Pauline
It would appear that the results from Phase One Test Events were not quite as positive as reported.
https://www.sportspromedia.com/opinion/uk-covid-test-events-euros-results-wembley-erp-2021
-
Just to follow up on my original posting, my 10 days quarantine are now over with no symptoms showing. My daughter, despite her positive result, has had no symptoms at all and feels fitter than ever, since she has been able to rest and relax a little during her time off work.
Interesting, however, has been the Test & Trace response, which has pinged her next door neighbours on both sides, warning them that they have been in contact with a positive case, even though the occupants of the three attached houses had really not been in contact at all. Some of them took it seriously and one of them even cancelled work and school for some days until everyone realised that Bluetooth thought all three houses were one with multiple occupancy! Apparently Bluetooth can go through brick walls! Daughter reports that she has been flooded with messages from the NHS since testing positive, some even with a slightly threatening tone.
-
Just a quick question Gill - how did your daughter know that her neighbours had been warned of a positive test? Presumably they didn't knock on her door so does the system tell her who it has notified.
Just thinking, I hardly ever see any of my neighbours, so in similar circumstances I wouldn't know it was one of them who had tested positive and therefore I would not need to quarantine as I had been nowhere near them, unless of course it provides names/addresses, which I highly doubt due to data protection.
Pheno
-
Pheno
I don't honestly know, but they may have wondered why her family were all at home (quarantining). They have been very careful about keeping away from people and she has been self-isolating in her bedroom. She is also friendly with the sister of one of the neighbours and may have been speaking to her via phone. It's a small community and word gets around pretty quickly.