For months many of us have used a single red line in a plastic container as a kind of social traffic light, swaying whether to go out or stay at home to protect others from Covid. In England and Scotland, people will no longer be able to use the tests for free if they don't show symptoms from 1 April. Wales and Northern Ireland are starting to charge for tests.
When is the best time to test if LFTs are limited and you want the best chance of knowing if you'reinfecting?
The risk of transmission is reduced by doing an LFT immediately before visiting a vulnerable person. LFTs only produce a second red line if the first one is positive.
In a recent study published in the BMJ, Lalvani and colleagues found that LFTs would miss 20% of positive cases when used to screen people at a test and trace centre.
It is better to not test at all, but using LFTs as a green light for visiting those at greatest risk of Covid could provide false reassurance. Ensuring that both parties are fully vaccined, limiting unnecessary social exposure in the five days before the visit, wearing a face mask, and meeting outside or in a well-ventilated room are some of the things Lalvani advises to further reduce risks.
It could cost care home visitors 73 a month.
The most common symptoms associated with the Omicron variant are similar to the common colds and flu, according to users of theZoe Covid app.
Although a positive LFT can confirm the symptoms are due to Covid, it may not be high enough in the first few days to give a positive result. This could be an issue in people who have been well-vaccinated, because symptoms are often caused by the immune response to the virus, and these responses may kick in faster if you have had Covid. You may be borderline infectious during the first few days of symptoms, but still testing negative on an LFT.
The problem is that once the virus starts to replicate it goes really, really fast, so you may have symptoms in the morning and not be infectious, but by midday.
If you have any symptoms, stay at home, and if LFTs are limited, keep it until day two or three.
If you have developed symptoms after being in contact with a known Covid case or local infections are high, you should stay at home. If you must leave the house, wear an FFP2 mask, keep your distance from other people, and wash your hands.
If you have been in close contact with a person with an infectious disease, the government still advises you to limit your contact with other people and work from home.
After contact with a confirmed Covid case, there is a risk of contracting the infection for up to 10 days.
Testing in the first few days after exposure is likely to be a waste of time because it takes time for the virus to produce enough copies of itself to be detected. A recent challenge trial which involved deliberately infecting 36 young healthy people with the original strain of coronaviruses, the average time from first exposure to early symptoms was 42 hours, with virus levels peaking at around five days after exposure, and remaining high for a further four days.
If you don't develop symptoms after exposure, should you use your last remaining LFTs?
If you don't develop symptoms after contact, then it is possible that you will visit a vulnerable person within 10 days. He said that health or care workers should follow testing guidelines.
If you have Covid, you should stay at home for up to 10 days from when your symptoms start, but if you get a negative LFT on days six and seven, you can go back. If you have two negative LFTs in a row, you can be certain that you are no longer infectious, so testing is advisable if you feel well enough to leave the house.
The picture is not as clear if you continue to test positive after seven days. Some people, particularly those with health conditions that impair their immune systems, may remain infectious for a long time.
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