Very well put Maree 
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I work in a care home, we have an outbreak of the Omnicom variant atm, so we are in lockdown, all residents in their rooms for 28 days, no visitors allowed, staff have to take a lateral flow test everyday and a pcr test once a week, instead of a lateral flow twice a week and a pcr once,
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We have just had to increase to 3 times a week at school, from twice a week.
I also used them over Christmas before meeting up with 3 different sets of family members and friends in 3 different housholds.
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Tiff, if you go shopping, how do you know you haven’t mixed with anyone who’s had it?
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I do a LFT before visiting mum but, if I had symptoms I would book a PCR test.
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Mainly because I go to Tesco after 8 p.m. when there is hardly anyone in the store. I don’t mix in crowds of people & I think at my age if I did get it I would know. I always wear a mask where ever I go. Besides which this area & I haven’t ventured out of it, is one of the lowest for Covid in the country, if not the lowest. I would certainly not go to any of the large towns/cities in this area, in fact I am loath to go anywhere at all.
If I wanted or needed to go anywhere else, I would certainly take a test, before & after.
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The only place I ever go is Tesco, and I go early in the morning when it’s quiet. If I had any reason to think I might have Covid, I would take extra care to only go near people I didn’t like the look of.
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I work in the health sector and therefore am tested so regularly I feel like a lab rat at times.
So, no, I don’t test at home
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Same as you Danny, apart from a very early visit to the supermarket I rarely mix with other people and prefer the great outdoor spaces.
I would only test myself when visiting the hospital, which has been often just lately, but people must be mindful that in most cases an infected person will test negative the three days after infection and before the symptoms arrive. For this reason, I will generally only use the test if I am experiencing any symptoms. It has also been suggested that if there are no symptoms and a Lateral Flow test comes in negative there are no spores being produced and consequently can not be passed on to others at this stage.
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I have received three notifications on my ServiceNSW app since Christmas telling me to watch for symptoms but I haven’t self tested for two reasons:
No symptoms
No RAT kits available because they are snapped up by people who really need to get tested because of the failure of all levels of government to order any.
The only precaution I have taken is to buy an oxygen monitor for if I do get Covid, I think it was $23 so cheap enough.
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No home testing kits available here at the moment - most of our local chemists have a notice on the door saying ‘don’t ask for LFTs - we are out of stock’.
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My son is home, because he has tested positive, its a minefield in the NHS at the moment, and, we are connected to it. On the testing front, we are given ample kits.
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My youngest daughter, who works in a pharmacy, has tested positive for covid.
She is self isolating in her bedroom, and we have a system in place for meals, clothes washing etc.
The rest of us are self testing using lateral flow every day. So far all have been negative.
She’s has had it for a week now and has started to self test but is still showing positive.
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I’ve been sent a pcr test kit, and been told to use it if I think I may have the virus. And I will. But I haven’t.
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and I’ve been told to go for jab No.4 three months after jab No.3 which is about now. I went to the GP reception yesterday and they said they’ll text me if & when.
There was something on the beeb News this morning about 4th jabs not being required.
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I had to go for my first ever covid test this morning at the local hospital as I am having an Angiogram there on Tuesday, I have been told to self-isolate now till Tuesday
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I got Covid just before Xmas …I was poorly with it , at seven days after my positive PCR test I did a lateral flow test which showed me as still positive so I continued to isolate and at ten days I did another lateral flow… still positive. I contacted 111 and they told me thats ok I needn’t isolate now as I’m not infectious and I could continue to test positive for up to fourteen weeks.
This is very confusing and it makes me wonder about the validity of all these positive daily figures. Surely if people like me continue to test positive even though we are not infectious lots of others must be the same?
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What’s the point of testing in that case. How do you know if you’re infectious or just showing positive. Thanks for telling me that I had no idea. It’s crazy, but then it’s COVID.
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Two people (1 male, 1 female - unrelated and unknown to each other) that I know have had positive tests with no symptoms. That’s a bit of a worry - both were in (or attended) hospital with urine infections and I read somewhere that a urine infection was a sign that the covid was shedding itself from the body. Yet no other symptoms were present and they only discovered they were positive when a test was done. 
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Hubby does a LF test when he goes to work at the local schools at exam times, that has to be every 3 days. If he’s tested positive he has to do a PCR test.
A few neighbours have had Covid, one couple are in their late 30s. They’ve had the 3 doses and they say that it’s like a very bad cold.
I have to have cataract surgery on my left eye in 10 days but I don’t need to test only self isolate for 10 days. They will phone me a few days before to ask if I’m well.
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