UKH

My friend and her parents have all tested positive for Covid in the last couple of days. All have cold/ mild flu like symptoms, and have had for about a week before testing positive. They were testing regularly through that week. 

If you have tested positive recently, how long did you have any symptoms (even mild cold like ones) before you tested positive? Is a week of symptoms before the test picks it up normal? If so, no wonder it is spreading so fast!

Just curious, were they vacinated ? (single/double/none) ...

None of us have had a positive test - but I, my wife, one of our daughters, and several work colleagues have recently had a bug that involved sore throat, aches, fatigue, and in most cases a bit of a cough for a few days afterwards (no fever, though); all have tested negative (multiple lateral flow tests, and some had PCR too).

There are plenty of other bugs going around - is it possible your friends had something else first, then caught/developed covid?

I also have a colleague that did have covid a couple of months ago, and tested positive again last week on her lateral flow test giving everyone a fright - but tested negative when she went for a PCR.

She was told it wasn't unusual for lateral flow tests to be positive for a while after shaking off covid (I don't know whether or not that's true, though).

I have family members affected by this. PCR negative, but coughing and feeling rough. But it is the flu season and to be expected. Last year everyone was barricaded in and wearing masks, so these bugs were less prevalent. 

Yep, I reckon we're in for a bad 'flu season.

A couple of months ago about 10 of my mates all got Covid, 5 from the same meeting. All of them had bad symptoms for at least a day and some a couple of day’s before the lateral flow tests picked it up. 

My son came back from Parklife and tested positive with a PCR. He's done an LFT everyday for the last 8 days - every one is negative. 

He's double jabbed and feels fine. Still isolating and wfh. 

I've no idea what to make of it all but the testing regime does seem a bit inconsistent.

Next-doors 13 Yr old tested positive (PCR) as soon as he developed mild symptoms. A classmate had tested positive three days earlier, so they were on high alert. Three weeks later mum, dad (jabbed) and brother (not) seem fine and all tests have been negative.

A friend made his 17 year old take lateral Flow tests for three days after returning from Leeds festival, all negative. Two days later symptomatic, positive PCR test. Dad (jabbed) had positive PCR two days later, and three weeks off work, mum (jabbed) and sister (single jab) seem to have been OK and all tests negative. 

OH has had a few flu-like symptoms over past week.  I developed a raging sore throat last night.  I've just done an LFT - came back negative.  Lots of people seem to be suffering with a variety of flu-like symptoms at the moment (but not Covid according to LFT).

(We're both double jabbed)

When my son caught real Covid a couple of months ago the LFT returned a positive pretty much as soon as he noticed slight symptoms.

Yes, but a while ago as parents are older and friend in one of the higher risk categories. I think second dose might have been nearly 6 months ago, so could be fading

It's possible, but she doesn't live with her parents and they all tested positive the same day and have had their "cold/flu" for about the same amount of time. Would be quite a coincidence.

1st hand experience:

#2 son (9yo) started with cold like symptoms late on Sunday night.  No cough, temperature or loss of taste smell so we treated it like a seasonal cold.

Monday we get notification of a positive case in his class and his 'cold' seems to have worsened.

Tuesday morning he has a slight temperature (low 37s) that came down with Calpol.  Given the positive case we did an LFT and that went positive straight away, as did another one 2hrs later.  Confirmed Covid via PCR emailed late on Tuesday night.

We (parents) double jabbed are clear on PCR and also LFTs today, but both have a bit of a sore throat.  #1 son (12yo, not jabbed yet) also clear on PCR and LFTs.  Although none of us are required to isolate we're currently working from home to minimise unnecessary contact with others as we know we're going to be covered in a 9yo's germs.  We still have to send unvaccinated #1 son to school unless he starts with symptoms.

2nd hand experience:

Work colleague took 4 days between onset of cold like symptoms and a positive LFT.

Started to feel like I had a cold last Friday as did the wife and 2 of my daughters. We all did lateral flow tests daily which came back negative until yesterday when myself and middle daughter returned a positive lateral flow test despite us both feeling a lot better.

We took PCR tests later in the day and got the results back late this morning. Unsurprisingly the 2 of us who tested positive still were, however youngest daughter also tested positive with yet another negative lateral flow test this morning before school 

Wife and eldest daughter both still negative on all fronts!

If you're symptomatic, you should be getting a PCR test. LFT are for screening to find some asymptomatic cases:

https://www.ukhillwalking.com/forums/off_belay/friday_night_covid_plotting_44-...

The false negative rate for LFT is rather high.

I had covid a few weeks ago. The only symptom I had was a nagging cough. It took a lateral flow test as a precaution because I was about to go away from a few days. A couple of days after my positive test, I had heavy cold like symptoms. PCR test confirmed covid. About a week after that I lost my sense of smell and taste. Then  it got on my chest and I spent a couple of days in bed with difficulty breathing. After that it turned around, within a few days I tested negative total time between positive and negative tests about two weeks.  It's left me shirt if energy and finding it a bit hard to focus on getting things done.

Ironically, I was asked to do an antibody test just two days before the positive LFT and it came back negative.

Looking at nhs.uk says;

Get a PCR test as soon as possible if you have any of these symptoms, even if mild:

a high temperature

a new, continuous cough

a loss or change to your sense of smell or taste

I don't have any of these symptoms.  I'll happily go for a PCR test if I do develop any of these.

This information is very out of date and they really need to update it.

For vaccinated people, cold like symptoms are very common. 

If you book a PCR, they ask you if you have one of those symptoms but if you say yes you get the test, they don't ask which symptoms or check in any way. I would just do it, and then if it is just a random bug then you have at least verified it. Better safe than sorry.

Likewise, I'll go for another PCR if I develop any of those, or the daily LFTs I'm doing suggest I might be asymptomatic.  Certainly my recent experience is is similar to others in this thread that people are testing positive with general cold like symptoms.

Also, 38deg and above is described as a high temperature in children and #2 son got nowhere near that.  It's only that we knew of a positive case in his class that we took the precaution of a LFT which, it turns out, was the right thing to have done as he would appear asymptomatic according to current NHS guidance.

Yup. Sept 2nd felt a bit off, took LFT, positive result, didn't feel too desperate the following day, but after that it went massively downhill and spent 2 weeks basically unable to move. Now improving enough to go back to work 1/2 days, but still fatigued very easily.

To be honest - and I'm not criticising anyone for doing as you suggest if they want to - I wouldn't.

I'm double-vaccinated, as are all the adults around me; I don't feel that the existing variants of covid are dangerous enough for me go out of my way worrying about any more. It no longer seems worse than the risk from the annual 'flu (which I'm not eligible for vaccination against), or a bad norovirus - either of which can be debilitating and have long-term consequences, but which are usually just a bit unpleasant.

I'm absolutely happy to keep using masks - it isn't much to ask, really.

I'll keep away from vulnerable people if I think there's much risk of me having covid - but we should be doing this when we're ill with something infectious anyway, even if it isn't covid.

If I have good reason to think I have covid, I'll isolate.

If I'm going to an event, or if I'm just a wee bit ill, I'll take a lateral flow test, they're easy to do.

I'll follow the rules on getting a PCR test if I meet the criteria.

But if I don't meet the criteria, I don't want to have to isolate and take time out to go to a testing centre, when I'm not required to and probably don't actually have covid.

Started with a mild cough on Thursday night LFT negative, still a bit of a cough Fri morning LFT still negative.

Saturday morning feeling feverish went for PCR, came back positive, LFT now positive too.

4 days in bed fever headaches nausea runs loss of smell, did LFT again this morning out of interest, back to negative.

Still got a mild cough and variable temperature but I'm out of bed today at least

I agree it's out of date since the zoe study findings on symptoms in vaccinated people. But I would not enjoy working in a lab if everyone with a runny nose and sore throat went and got a covid pcr test! I cant imagine weve got capacity for that without seriously affecting other critical pathology testing. I wonder if that's why guidance hasn't been updated.

I was away on Mull at the weekend for a Compleation on Saturday. A good sized group of folks, 30-40 people. 

Maybe 10 have tested positive by now. Some had symptoms Monday and tested positive, a few more yesterday have tested positive following either symptons or definite close contact with positive cases, some have pinged via the app.

Most people spread across a good few ferries, some filling a bunkhouse with others vanning and camping, some mixing indoors in the pub, all gathered for an outdoor meal after the hill day. Some also sipping from the same whisky bottles. I did expect there would be some cases in the aftermath. I did a LFT before heading back to work on Monday (a regular routine with work providing us with the kits) and I'm negative so far with no symptoms.

Edit: Actually now I remember, one of the van folk felt ropy on the Saturday morning so ducked out of the hill. She had shared a car with a couple of the bunkhouse dwellers.

It's not flu season yet - that starts in the winter months normally.  RSV and rhinovirus are the other things going around.

Reading this thread really makes me think we should never have introduced the confusion of lateral flow tests. It's never "not covid" according to the lateral flow tests. You can't even be sure is isn't covid with a negative PCR test.  Certainly if people have the full house of cough, fever and loss of sense of smell then they should be self-isolating no matter what the PCR says.

As part of this, if someone in the house tests positive on PCR but another person develops cold or sore throat symptoms around the same time  but tests negative, then they almost certainly have covid with a false negative test - likelihood of 2 simultaneous different viral infections in the same house being pretty small. 

A family member tested positive  and was later taken to hospital for a few days, now at home and isolating.Double jabbed by the way which most likley avoided much worse.

People dropping like flies in my area (NHS) the last 2 weeks...

Not had it myself but had cold symptoms the last few days...

Got a text today for a booster jab...

Mrs C picked it up about four weeks ago, just felt a bit off colour, off her food and headachy. Nothing even to suggest a fever. Then she fell in the street in Pitlochry _ she’s not in the habit of falling - and when she didn’t feel better the next morning I suggested a LFT which surprised us both by being positive. We’re both double vaccinated, I’ve tested negative right the way through.
T& P were actually quite good after the PCR test - took her back to the Wednesday (this was a Saturday) to check where she’d been. The only plausible source of infection was a primary care nurse (whom she had an appointment with about something unrelated) who took her mask off and coughed vigorously in the consulting room. 
I’ve just decided the best way to look after my health is to steer clear of health professionals….

On the positive side Mrs C was fully recovered in a few days apart from a tendency to fall asleep on the settee in the evenings.

There's a story on the beeb today about the bad cold doing the rounds:

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/newsbeat-58624295

Another colleague got it yesterday and took the day off, but they're back in sniffling today.

My daughter got it a few weeks ago. We're pretty sure she caught it on the Monday, based on where we'd been. On Wednesday she started coughing, so she did a lateral flow and it was positive. So in our experience it was only a couple of days before symptoms appeared, and the test showed positive as soon as there were symptoms.

Neither me or my wife got it. Thanks Astra Zeneca!

The thing to remember about LFT is that they are to screen for asymptomatic cases. The rate of false negatives is high plus it's easy not to do the test correctly (e.g. drinking in the 30 minutes before taking the sample). The window for an LFT to find a positive is much smaller than PCR. So a PCR will pick up a test sooner and for a longer period.

Having said that, if you feel you need to test you should probably be going out of your way to avoid other people until you don't have symptoms or you test negative with a PCR.

I have a PCR test weekly with my work and I get a lot of comfort from that.

When you report your lateral flow test online as negative it specifically tells you that you 'probably' don't have covid, but that you should isolate and get a PCR if you have or develop the classic symptoms (fever, new continuous cough, or loss of sense of smell or taste).

Since that's what the actual, official, system is telling people, I don't think you can reasonably expect them to behave otherwise. Whether or not that should be what it tells us may be a different matter, but that's one for the professionals.

I was referring to a PCR not an LFT

I think they call that a super spreader event. 

Did someone forget the plastic cups? No toast to the completion.

OK - if you have symptoms that mean you should book a PCR, you're already required to isolate until you get it, that isn't open to interpretation.

Not if you are going for a PCR because you are a close contact of a positive case and under 18 / double vaccinated

Is that an English rule?

In Scotland, as a double-vaccinated close contact, we still have to isolate until we get a negative PCR result (but not after one):

https://www.gov.scot/publications/coronavirus-covid-19-general-guidance-for...

https://www.nhsinform.scot/illnesses-and-conditions/infections-and-poisonin...

Interesting range in variations.

There definitely needs to be more messaging about the (lack of) effectiveness of LFTs. 

The cross over between colds and Covid now is muddying the picture a lot which gets very tricky. 

I still don't do indoor socialising, and still won't for a long time yet. I still absolutely can't risk taking it in to work. Although thankfully the boosters should be along very soon, I am expecting my call for that imminently 🙂

There's a directly relevant article by Tom Chivers today:

https://unherd.com/thepost/covid-or-cold-a-test-is-your-best-bet/

I'm not sure he hasn't made a false assumption about just how non-independent subsequent lateral flow tests are from each other, but it's an interesting back-of-the-envelope calculation.

Yeah, that's a huge thing - people working with vulnerable individuals have to be so much more careful than most of us.

Just and update on our situation, although we are not displaying any of the classic symptoms, my wife and I have just returned positive LFTs this morning and expecting the PCRs to be no different...

Ideally everyone with cold symptoms should have a PCR, but with colds resurging massively the capacity isn't there to do that so it's being fudged a bit.

It's interesting that cases in vaccinated people do tend towards being like colds.  Perhaps the 4 existing cold coronaviruses all caused something like this when they first emerged?

Ah, I hadn't seen this when I posted mine.  I'll let you know shortly once I've taken the test. 

Double jabbed, Astra Zenica.  Scratchy throat is coming back. It seemed to get better when I got up and had a coffee, so I put it down to maybe just mouth breathing in my sleep.  but yeah.  feeling a bit cruddy

I have still never needed to have a test. Being antisocial must help. 

Most of us I n the hospital got first vaccine in Dec and Jan and in the last 2 months there has been a spike in cases amongst the vaccinated. Quite possibly just a coincidence but there has been some concern regarding the persistence of immunity.

Yes, we are all getting our boosters this week. 

I know quite a few vaccinated people who have caught it recently. All very mild though. 

And not working in certain professions I guess!! 

I assume they were using home tests. If someone has symptoms they should get a PCR because home tests pick up only some positives (I have it in my head that it’s around half of actual positive cases but that info may be out of date). The government needs to advertise this much better as a lot of people don’t seem to realise that home tests are for asymptomatic testing only. 

I think capacity issues are caused more by schools going back. 

Last Christmas a bunch of frends had a secret Christmas party between boxing day and NYE during the lockdown. Someone at the party was positive and they all caught it. My friend Marco was "rough" for a couple of days. The other 20 or so people had no symptoms whatsoever.

But they shut the world down anyway.

E

Given how the colds are belting round at the moment if they expanded it to cold symptoms then they would have even more of an issue.

I've had 3 so far this year, none of them (according to LFTs) COVID.

Wonder how many of the people that they undoubtedly passed it on to ended up seriously ill or dead?

Sightly off topic, but trying to book a PCR test if you don't have internet access is tricky.

Firstly how do you find the number?

No mention of a phone number on the government's website, just a link to make a booking - which is no help if booking on behalf of someone else as they will need the booking reference for the test centre to scan. Google came good eventually (it's 911), but still lots of faf and worry.

As shown above there is lots of confusion even in UKC about if/when to book a PCR test. Add in the government's assumption that everyone has a smartphone and reliable internet access (yes Virgin Media, you are utterly rubbish) and I am sure many people who should be tested aren't being done.

Yes, there is definitely an assumption of internet access and capability. However, up here there are walk in testing facilities in fairly prominent places. Is that not the same where you are?

Considering how absolutely no one in my local area knows anyone who was ill enough to be hospitalised at any time in the last 18 months I'd guess none. 

E

That's the attitude I get from people in work that haven't been vaccinated in that it doesn't directly effect them so why bother.
Yet, the virus is still spreading and in the timeframe you're talking about, someone in that party would have been ultimately responsible for the virus being contracted by someone who got very ill or died.
 

So a load of my friends have it just now. All very mild etc. If they didn't take it seriously, I could catch it from them and have no symptoms but take it into work and infect 12 very vulnerable people. They have all been double vaccinated, but many on medication which impacts their immune system and many in general poor health. We have no idea how an outbreak would affect them. 

Currently, due to such high prevalence and people not caring about it anymore, our residents are STILL not allowed to go anywhere. Previously, the staff supported them to live reasonably active lives, going shopping, seeing social contacts, playing pool, going to cafes for lunch etc. These people are still only able to watch TV and smoke all day. 

I am constantly frustrated and upset by people not caring how much they spread it around! Why do these people not deserve any kind of life? 

Just keep wearing masks, open windows and isolate/ test when needed. And do regular lft when you feel fine just in case. It's not hard, life can go on, and maybe that way our residents can resume some sort of life too!

I support your plea and have given you a like, but, I think the chances of people in society doing what you ask are completely non-existent. Rates might eventually drop anyway but, if they don't, then your residents are at some point going to have to take a calculated risk, unless they want to stay inside forever more. It strikes me a sensible strategy would be to line up some antibody tests for them so that when they have had their booster doses (even better, both before and after) they can find out whether they are actually definitely immune-suppressed in this regard even after three doses. It might be that their weakened immune systems have still been able to mount a response. Forgive me if this has already been done.

I wonder how much people in this category are at risk from Covid as opposed to standard flu after after they've received respective vaccinations, if you take prevalence out of the picture?

Do we have a good understanding of flu prevalence for a given year as I understand it is/was never tested for comprehensively.

I guess what I'm asking is what is the respective risk of covid vs flu at this point, and how might that risk ratio change if covid prevalence drops in the future?

I get that we have to move on eventually, but if people understand what the "hidden" sectors of society are dealing with then maybe more would get vaccinated and stay at home when ill and test regularly. I am not saying we shouldn't get on with stuff, but just take a bit more care than you used to!

We all get our boosters tomorrow (staff and residents), so hopefully there will be data at some stage as to how those affect the outcomes for more vulnerable people and maybe we will be able to get on with life again. We don't get to decide, it's the care commission who decide, so it will depend on what happens at population level rather than what antibodies our particular residents have or don't have. But given the proximity with which they live, it would only take one to have not sufficient antibodies for it to be a problem anyway. 

Totally agree.

Taking extra care and making small adaptions to protect ourselves and others really in isn't a big ask, and far preferable to another lockdown.

Just chatting to a colleague whose son (at primary school) just tested positive a couple of days ago (but just has a runny nose and a minor cough).

He and his wife have no symptoms at all and tested negative (PCR tests; he's double-vaccinated and she's single vaccinated), so he's back at work (has to be, he has no legitimate 'excuse' for being off so no entitlement to paid leave, and his job requires him to be on premises most of the time). They've stuck him in a separate office for now.

Not sure where I'm going with this, really, but I reckon there's a pretty high chance he'll spread it - it could be a false negative on the PCR, or he could have caught it since or be about to catch it - his son will still be infectious.

I suppose we're just at the stage this is considered OK under the national strategy.

My boss at the care home is going through this now where both kids tested positive (one mild runny nose, one asymptomatic). She is consistently testing negative so in theory should be at work. But she obviously just can't risk being in. Luckily she can do most of her job from home (it's not brilliant, but workable), so is doing so. If it was one of us, she doesn't know how she would proceed. We obviously can't work from home, she can't pay is to stay home if we are testing negative but also she doesn't really want people in just incase. I really hope she doesn't need to make that decision. She is the only staff member with school aged kids so she was always the most likely to be in that position. 

Her kids are old enough that as long as food is delivered to their door, they can pretty much get on with it (top end primary), so they are just in their room, all windows in house open, and my boss and husband in separate rooms too just to minimise risk further! Sounds like a bit of a nightmare! 

I suspect kids might be contagious for a shorter period of time as I guess their immune system kicks it more quickly, and I would hope there is research being done to establish this. If it is the case, then that would make a difference as isolation for them could be shortened etc. May also be true of vaccinated adults? 

I guess we are still just needing to establish the ins and outs of it all.

There will be 10,000s cases like that at the moment, and 100,000s more who are the same but where the kid didn't get a test because testing small kids is difficult for all concerned, schools don't want kids off unless they really have to be, and many of them don't get any, or many, symptoms. (Speaking as a parent of a 4 yo, I won't get him tested unless he very clearly meets the criteria ie continuous cough or a high temperature; there's no way of knowing about taste or smell. He has snuffles every other week at the moment.)

This, for better or worse. As wintertree said on another thread, the elephant in the room is that the government policy is now to give kids covid. And if they are going to get it, why not asap before their parents' immunity wears off?

I totally get that we are relaxing the need to quarantine, but the disruption to business if covid goes round the office is far higher than that of having one staff member sat at home for ten days, so probably cheaper in the long run to just pay them to stay away regardless of government guidelines.

Quite possibly - but they aren't going to do that!

unfortunately not yet .

I'm probably unwanted by the virus.  

They said in the pharmacy today that as of next month (ie Friday? ) that you'll need a code to get free LFTs.  Can't see with a quick glance whether anyone can get a code... 

Right I'll get another pack ordered online today

Edit - Ordering online they email a code to confirm your order. Maybe that's what they mean in that you have to apply for the pack and not just pick it up without any checks of who is getting them.

(Wish you could order more than one pack though, testing twice a week with two people in a household means 7 tests don't exactly last long - I mean even for one person that's less than a months worth of regular testing.)

That's weird! That in England? Seems unlike the Scottish position, but they do sometimes throw odd curve balls!

The news 2-3 weeks ago were reporting that LFT would soon be paid-for, maybe it's something to do with that. I'd be surprised though, as there was no date announced for the change and they were talking about 'within months.'

You have had different styles of them? Our LFT have always been the same. Our PCR changed at one point. Odd, you would think the whole of UK would have same supplies!

We had one seemingly rogue delivery of Flowflex here in W Yorks about six weeks ago, since when we've only had the older Innova available everywhere. No Orient Gene.

I've been going round the local pharmacies every Friday hoping for a new delivery of Flowflex - I tend to throw up when swabbing my throat, no doubt owing to too much GI surgery - but no joy.

Oh right! Haven't had them at all (and I do 2 LFT every week at work), so maybe they aren't using them up here. 

Any idea if there is a difference in accuracy between them?

I've had two different types - just got the Flowflex ones last week.

Don’t know if there’s a difference but the FlowFlex ones are used for pre-departure testing etc.  Was slightly irksome to have a couple of boxes of nhs ones and then just one, individually wrapped to be taken on a video call for verification!! 

I know a few kids have tested +ve around here, but no-one I know personally.

I've got an absolute belter of a cold at the moment, but lateral flow test says it's not Covid.

As above, a negative lateral flow test isn't particularly useful if you have symptoms and you may still have covid. So many of these "worst cold evers" are testing positive on PCR locally, but then we can access tests with other symptoms outside the core cough/fever/smell changes.

you can anywhere just have to tick the box that says "cough/fever/smell changes." they don't check.

How? They were under lockdown, 10km radius from home to do sport etc. No one travelled further than our local town. No one to this day knows anyone who was ill.

E

Interestingly, my new pack that just came through are these too! I haven't used one yet as I will have to do one anyway when I go into work later but will be using them next week. 

That's me had my booster this morning, so happy days there! Got the flu jag at the same time. Hopefully this keeps us all good going into winter!

The sort of person that goes to a party during a lockdown at the height of the pandemic probably isn't the sort to heed the 10km rule.
Also, how did the first person get the virus if everyone was following the rules like you say they did?

Nobody at work got covid, husband didn't get covid. I caught it in Jan '21 despite cutting out all non essential contacts (and following all the other rules) - no idea where I caught it or from whom.

Best bet is local supermarket that's within walking distance of the house. No 10km rule in England but the idea of reducing travel isn't to stop you catching it, but just to reduce the chances of you spreading it.

I don't qualify for the booster or the 'flu jag, but Jen's getting both the week after next.

I've actually booked a private 'flu jag for myself at Boots, for this afternoon - it feels like a good idea this year for a few reasons.

I wonder whether they'll roll out the covid boosters further? Although it may well be better to use the capacity elsewhere, once we've boosted our more vulnerable people and key workers.

Probably either asymptomatic spread from someone or airborne in the supermarket but I have spoken to people who have caught covid despite them not actually leaving their flat and having no-one visiting. In the original SARS outbreak it was thought the virus travelled through vents in a block of flats and even outside to another building via airborne transmission.

Started out with light cough, sore throat on Wed.  More severe throat yesterday but slept okay last night.  Felt a bit hot last night but not super hot. Severe throat this morning.  Occasional cough but a sip of water eases.  Throat has eased today but still feel soreness if swallowing.  Now a bit sniffly and blowing nose now and again.   Resting HR has risen past couple of days and HRV down. (I check these each morning anyway). Cough near enough stopped.
 

I fill out the ZoE Covid app each morning. It says it’ll recommend PCR if I meet the criteria. 
 

Personally it just feel like a cold progressing in usual fashion.  No fatigue. Avoiding strenuous exercise till it passes.

Why not just get tested?

Non of the symptoms they list for requesting a PCR test.

If you had a slight cough 3 or more times in a 24hr period then that is a "continuous cough". Probably you have a cold (rhinovirus being the thing going around), but definitely worth getting a PCR done.

It says 3 or more coughing episodes which I would have thought means  more than a minute or so each time then settles again.  Anyway ordered PCR test even though I think it’s just a bog standard cold.

Can you order a PCR test?  I assume you mean that you booked and then went for a PCR test? Otherwise a rather incongruous post.

If you are unable to travel to a test centre yes you can order one to be delivered to your home.

I'd forgotten about the postal ones, thanks.  They're half the problem with weekend reporting latency; slow day for me...

Yes. Home test PCR kit.

After swabbing. The swab goes in a tube with a liquid, break off half the swab stick.  Seal tube. Then goes in a bag which is sealed. Then in box. Then you apply a security seal. Then take it to a priority post box.

Now awaiting results.

Presumably fomite transmission (from food deliveries, mail) might be behind some of those cases where potential airborne pathways for the virus are very limited. We know it is much rarer than airborne transmission, but also not impossible.

Sounds identical to the test I did at the drive through back in January - but will take longer to get results thanks to relying on royal mail (I got mine in under 24hrs).

Good for those unable to drive - assuming you have a priority post box within walking distance that is.

I have a priority box 200 yards away. I no longer own a car.

At my worst with covid 200 yards wasn't walking distance

We ordered PCR home test kits the first 2-3 times we needed to do a test in 2020. It just seemed easier and also less risky than going in person, especially during lockdown. The first time we did it was before the priority post boxes were set up and there was even a courier to come to our door and collect the test kit by hand in a lot of PPE. The system worked pretty well but I subsequently realised that it added at least a full day to the time between getting symptoms and getting your test result, so subsequently moved to booking slots at drive-thrus.

Some numbnut recently drove into our closest postbox and completely took it out; the council seem to have decided we can do with the next one half a mile away rather than replace it, grr. /End irrelevant rant

They do say symptoms vary from Asymptotic to heavy cold to Death’s door.  I’d say I fall in the heavy cold category.  Which maybe a heavy cold or may be Covid-19.  But I appear to have met the criteria for a PCR test and so done one.

Negative PCR