UKC

Possibly might have a dose of Covid. I have had a head cold since Monday. Tired, runny nose, sneezing and a little bit of coughing. The Mrs started with it on Christmas eve and was fine by Monday.

Obviously being a bloke I have it far worse (nothing to do with me being pathetic at being ill at all)

I did a LF test this morning in prep for my customers opening up and possibly calling me out and it was negative after 30 minutes but after 1 hour there was a faint second line. Apparently this means either a very mild dose or some cross contamination.

Earliest PCR test I can book is tomorrow afternoon so I booked myself and the Mrs.

I'm kind of hoping it is covid, we are both triple jabbed, Mrs is already recovered and I'm a lot better today that I was for the last 2 days so hopefully we got off lucky and 3 jabs plus a mild dose should = good protection going forwards.

The question is where did we get it? I can't work from home and have to intersect with people everyday. Mrs only goes in twice a week and the last time was the Monday before Christmas where a lass who she shares an office with had been at a partys on Friday, Saturday and Sunday so the Mrs came home at lunch time and didn't go back. 5 days later she started feeling ill and I was 2 days later. 

Isn't there a time limit window on when the test result is still valid?
Mine stipulates to review the test results after 15 minutes and consider any after 20 minutes as void.

NHS website says 30 minute's, after that it doesn't count as its either cross contamination or such a mild dose that it's probably not infectious. As both the wife and me have a faint second line I doubt it's 2 cases of cross contamination and more likely a mild infection. I would rather confirm with a PCR and act accordingly considering the amount of work I have booked working in close proximity to other people, the utilities are struggling with the amount of people isolating and I don't want to add to that. 

The website also says you only need to test if you have one or more of the main symptoms, loss of taste and smell, high temp, continuous cough. As we know a lot of the Omicron infections are presenting more like a bad cold but You can't expect the government website to keep up with things though. Just like it still says 10 day isolation rather than the new 7 day. (or is it 5 days plus LF tests now? 

Mine said thirty mins tops. 

I was kinda feeling like I'd won when my line went double red too. Funny isn't it. 

I always felt disappointed at a negative test before as well. 

Weird psychology going on as no one wants to be ill or dangerous to others. 

Hope you're past the worst. 

Best. K

I thought that when mine went to 'C' that it indicated 'C for Covid'.
Lucky I checked because I was about to start the sequence of events that would have effectively closed down my department in work.
Which would have been embarrassing when I owned up to making a mistake...  

C=control, T=test, it is standard on LFTs regardless of what is being checked.

I’ve just seen a good analogy of this from a Gp, although I’m not doubting what your kit, or you, say.

’compare it to a train arriving a few minutes late. It may be late but it’s still a train’

That sums up my "train" of thought perfectly. It's better to isolate a few days and confirm either way than potentially pass it on to others. 

Do another one if you have access to them. It's the only way to get any further certainty.

Make sure you are following the instructions about food and drink before taking the test as certain foods can cause a false positive.

Your choice, but I have to say you've gone massively over the time window to get a valid result. It could equally be another contaminant, or even pH imbalance.

I didn't see any such instructions in my tests. Have you got a reference? Quick Google suggests urban myths about coke or acidic drinks.

It used to include specific instructions not to eat/drink for the throat+nose swab packs I had. For the new nose-only ones it doesn't seem to say that any more

pH 3 to 4 to get a fake positive according to this:

https://twitter.com/Mark_Lorch/status/1411351039333314566
 

No idea of the veracity of this.

Not sure anyone would "feel like a winner"?

My other half took a pcr on Christmas Day after a positive LFT and it's positive. It totally kiboshed all the Christmas visiting, travel, sporting and social plans.

  Everyone in the house is doing LFTs and now they've run out. He's going stir crazy with the isolation and the kids can't see their partners or go to NYE events as the other families won't have them in the house even with negative LFTs.

It's a f3**$@*g nightmare. 

Last nose only one I had did have those restrictions.  Wait 30mins after eating/drinking/smoking/vaping.

https://www.bbc.com/future/article/20210705-how-children-are-spoofing-covid...

Looks like deliberate spoofing by not using the buffer solution, but using drops of acidic drinks directly. And producing a false positive...

The apple juice fake positive does work, I tried it ages ago.

You can do a fake negative with unswabbed buffer, counter to what I thought it doesn't do the C line based on something normally in the nose.

Exactly. However in Dax's case leaving the test for an hour, rather than the maximum 30 mins may well be a false positive, rather than detecting low levels of the virus. It may just be degradation of the buffer or whatever reactant is in the 'T' line.

None of the tests I have taken have ever showed even a faint T line, no matter how long I left them...

We take LFT before going in to work, and then have to take the test and the registration code in with us for them to get registered there. Most tests will have been done at least an hour before people arrive at work, mine will always been nearer to an hour and half. No false positives have ever appeared yet. 

Mine either. I think one my mother did developed a very feint ghost line over a day or so, she got coughing pcr validated covid just a month later so probably false. 

Given dax and wife have/had symptoms it looks and quacks like a duck. Probably a duck. 

Dax, glad your wife's ok, iirc you were worried about her getting it. Hope yours goes the right way too. 

Jk

We both have a PCR test booked for today. 

Nothing on the instructions about this but I did mine on waking up before eating, drinking or brushing my teeth. 

It could be but we both got the same result, maybe we both have a PH imbalance or maybe we are both incapable of taking tests without contaminating them. 

As a lot of my customers insist on a test before attending site I often take a test every 48 hours, this is the first time the second line has shown regardless of the time frame. 

That's my thinking and it seems the thinking of most of the people commenting on here too. For some reason Ridge seems a bit obsessed with it being a pair of false negatives whilst everyone else agrees with erring on the side of caution

Thanks for that, I was very worried about her. Lots of medical conditions. Thank god (okay science) for the vaccination. Mine is definitely going the right way. Unfortunately being a bloke I regress to being a small child when in ill and I firmly believe that man flu can be fatal. 

You can get a fake negative by just opening the package to get the code number and registering the result without taking the test. I do wonder how many people do this if they need a test for work or to access a social event. It's far to reliant on people being honest. 

It was a tounge in cheek thread title.

I'm sorry your Christmas has been ruined by a positive test.

For me Christmas is the perfect time to catch it. We don't visit family anyway, have zero interest in going out on NYE and we are both off work so don't need any extra time off.

I was silly busy in November and December and I'm booked up solid in January. Having to take time out then would be a big problem but this week the only thing I have had to do is ask (and pay) the lads to cover any callouts that might come in. The timing genuinely couldn't be better for me. 

 I didn't see any such instructions in my tests. Have you got a reference? Quick Google suggests urban myths about coke or acidic drinks.

It was written in the instructions of the kits my parents had. I can't remember the make but they were provided in a thin blue box if that adds anything.

It is the first instruction in the NHS instruction booklet that comes with the test kits.

Man flu is real. Even stallions get more signs than mares in equine influenza!

Not obsessed, simply pointing out you've not followed the instructions which state (on the Acon Floflex kits at least) "Do not read the result after 30 minutes".

I wasn't suggesting that you and your Mrs are somehow incapable of carrying out the test without contaminating it.

By all means err on the side of caution, especially as you're symptomatic. Here's hoping for a negative result for you both.

Well that's the tests done, what a farce.

First off no signs until we were actually at the gate, the vaccination center is signed for miles in all directions but if you didn't know you wouldn't find the test center. 

Email said each person must present the QR code. Pull up to the point, hold up phone with QR code and the guy says something in a very quiet voice, after 2 or 3 goes of him trying to say something from over a meter away through glass and his mask I give up and wind the window down a couple of inches. He leaps back a couple more meters and can now shout wind the window up. Eventually he manages to say he doesn't need the QR code, just needs to know how many tests we need and we are waved to the next section. 

This guy was great, nice clear voice. Here are your tests, do you know how to do them? Yes, great please Park over there, follow the instructions and when done put your hazards on and someone will come to you. 

Park up, do the test, fail to fill in the form because we don't have a pen (no mention of a pen on the email), guy comes over, nice clear voice, checks visually that the test tubes are in the bags, tells us to seal the bags and proceed to the next station. He says we will need to present a QR code first through a closed window then hold up the corresponding test so they can scan the bar code then do the same for the second test. Simple. 

Get to the last station, very quiet voice saying something. Holds up QR code, it's waved away without checking it, okay I guess to hold up test with bar code, that's also waved away without checking it. She carries on wittering something very quietly and eventually motions me to drop the window and holds up a phone type device, am I Mr Hewitt? Yes, is she Mrs Hewitt? Yes. I can still hardly hear her even with the window open, box is held up, put tests in box and we are waved away. 

1 more station that says stop and show test receipts, stop and reach for receipts to be waved through by security guy in his cabin a good 4 meters away before I held up the papers. 

Maybe it's just me but if I were running these things I would have the people with loud clear voices doing the customer facing bits and the quiet ones doing the background stuff. 

Anyway rant over, time to go back to feeling sorry for myself dieing of man flu. 

Results just came in on the PCR tests, we both tested positive.

Mrs is 99% okay now, I am 70% and getting better.

Glad I decided on caution because we know we definitely haven't passed it to anyone. 

Glad to hear you're both on the mend.

Glad you're feeling relatively OK. That's good.

You sound very relaxed about the thought of 10 days in isolation but for us (and many outdoor folk) the mental damage of not being able to go out when the Day 6 and Day 7 tests were still positive almost outweighs the slight fluey symptoms. 

Plus the stress of trying to get hold of LFTs at the mo! It's still definitely not a winner! 

It's not really 10 days of isolation as such though. Since the symptoms started I have had zero inclination to go anywhere because I felt shit. 5 days in I'm a lot better but not up to going out and about.

Now comes the conundrum, tomorrow will be 6 days meaning if I do a clear LF tomorrow and another one on Sunday I'm free but technically despite being covid positive the LF came up clear when I took it on Wednesday.

I think regardless of tests I will isolate the full 10 days. I can catch up on admin in my home office (also known as the small bedroom) rather than risk spreading it at work or to my customers.