IOM Covid removing restrictions

[Ham_N_Eggs]

1 minute ago, Ramseyboi said:

There is actually a serious point here about the guidance being given.

I have been testing everyday for three weeks following the LFT instructions. All negative.

Today I did one throat swab - positive.

I have since done another nose swab - negative.

If I do another nose swab and it is negative tomorrow then I am classed as all clear.

Believe what you want but I only swabbed my throat after hearing about others getting a different result and googling what guidance other places are giving.

Maybe our lot need to be be advising people to test differently since it appears omicron can evade nasal tests?

You need another PCR test and insist they swab your throat.

[Roger Mexico]

1 minute ago, Ham_N_Eggs said:

You need another PCR test and insist they swab your throat.

A PCR test with a nostril swab might still pick something up, they tend to be more sensitive though in some tests that might be due to more consistent, professional swabbing.  But the point about throat swabbing is a good one because there is some evidence that Omicron is much more prevalent in the airways rather than the lungs, so it could be that it's detectable there first. 

[Ramseyboi]

I am bored as I can’t go out but won’t post again this evening as you lot don’t believe anything anyway.

Throat has come back positive twice, Nose negative twice this evening and once this morning.

Believe what you want but I heard of several people today who thought they felt a bit off colour so swabbed their throat and then came back positive.

My advice for what it’s worth is to swab the throat and I wouldn’t be surprised to see gov start suggesting the same.

Have a great NYE all

https://www.bristolpost.co.uk/news/uk-world-news/people-suspected-omicron-told-change-6411258

https://slate.com/technology/2021/12/throat-swab-rapid-testing-omicron-effective.html

Edited December 31, 2021 by Ramseyboi

[wrighty]

19 minutes ago, Ramseyboi said:

I am bored as I can’t go out but won’t post again this evening as you lot don’t believe anything anyway.

Throat has come back positive twice, Nose negative twice this evening and once this morning.

So that’s why there’s a shortage of LFTs. 

[Ham_N_Eggs]

22 minutes ago, Ramseyboi said:

but won’t post again this evening

A Christmas miracle.

[Roger Mexico]

Just now, wrighty said:

So that’s why there’s a shortage of LFTs. 

There was a good piece in the Guardian yesterday about this:

Of course England is running out of Covid tests – the strategy is a flawed one

But I actually think the strategy here is probably even worse because rather than saying negative Day 6 and 7 LFD tests are enough to clear someone, we've been told any two successive negatives (24 hours apart) are enough, apparently encouraging some people to use them like they're going out of fashion - and possibly ignoring the 24 hours bit.

[Gladys]

4 minutes ago, Roger Mexico said:

There was a good piece in the Guardian yesterday about this:

Of course England is running out of Covid tests – the strategy is a flawed one

But I actually think the strategy here is probably even worse because rather than saying negative Day 6 and 7 LFD tests are enough to clear someone, we've been told any two successive negatives (24 hours apart) are enough, apparently encouraging some people to use them like they're going out of fashion - and possibly ignoring the 24 hours bit.

Yes, someone could test hourly until they get a negative then know that in 24 hours they can log another negative and wait for the email of liberation.  I am going to test each day while in isolation, but just once a day as it will be something to look forward to with excited anticipation. 

[finlo]

1 minute ago, Gladys said:

Yes, someone could test hourly until they get a negative then know that in 24 hours they can log another negative and wait for the email of liberation.  I am going to test each day while in isolation, but just once a day as it will be something to look forward to with excited anticipation. 

A bit like a morning poo?

[Gladys]

5 minutes ago, finlo said:

A bit like a morning poo?

Yes  exactly like a morning poo.  I am also going to gather the more remote family and friends via Zoom to witness the five rotations nostril samba and a 15 minute countdown to the result! 

In actual fact, I have found that the lines appear within a couple of minutes and that once they appeared there was no change within the 15 to 30 minute test time.  That was always the case with the previous negative tests, and the positive test line line appeared equally quickly. 

[Cambon]

3 hours ago, code99 said:

Apologies for being off-topic, and there is a separate thread for this, but I just have to respond to the above comments that were posted here.

IMHO, all of these proclamations about self-determination, ability to set economic policy via the ballot box, the right to control our own borders and assets are largely red herrings, nationalist flag-waving and political delusions i.e., a modern version of what Henry V could have said to rouse his troops before a battle, or even an excerpt from speeches by Putin or the ‘democratically-elected’ Iranian leaders. Comparing leaving the EU with the Grand Alliance of soldiers who defended our collective freedoms (and dying in the diches) against the NAZIS in WW2 seems to me to be bizarre.

The clichéd quip that no country is an island is particularly true in the modern world. People like Churchill (not exactly an arm-chair patriot albeit with his own idiosyncratic faults and weaknesses) understood this. He passionately supported the idea of creating the ‘United States of Europe’ with the UK being an integral part. But if the UK wants to be truly ‘independent’ then it should immediately sever its membership of the World Trade Organisation, the World Health Organisation, the United Nations, the OECD, the NATO, the Commonwealth, INTERPOL, etc and of course an UK PM must stop taking calls from an American President and stop asking him/her how high to jump.

Nationalist jingoism is an anathema to a civilised democracy and it is often a primary justification to go to war. Shallow political jingoism is a vile insidious incarnation of ‘us versus them’ thinking. At its zenith it morphs into a violent insurrection against; Johnny foreigner, outsiders, sub-human others who don’t belong to our tribe. It is a dangerous political path to walk down and I for one don’t believe that countries like modern Germany, given their history, will ever willingly go down that path again. Many British people are dismayed that our relationship with France keeps sinking to new lows, but let’s not blame ‘petulant’ Macron for everything – it’s largely us who created the distrust that has led to the current frictions.

Ever since Brexit the opinion polls in Europe consistently demonstrate an unwavering resolve of the EU citizens to remain being the EU citizens. Over the next few years Brussels will distribute hundreds of billions of Euros to all of the EU countries who have been impacted by Covid. This is an act of unity, and also an act of self-serving common sense.

I feel sorry for you. Leaving the EU was never going to be easy or quick. However, all those billions paid out by Brussels have to come from somewhere, and they have lost their second biggest contributor. The EU is on the brink of collapse. It has been for years. I think Ireland will be next, in the next few years, and they will form an alliance with the uk. 

I could go on, give reasons, but cannot be bothered. Let's just see what happens after tomorrow. 

[hissingsid]

Absolutely agree Cambon.

[Cambon]

2 hours ago, The Old Git said:

I did reply to one of your recent posts that my brother in law was in hospital because of it. Did that not fit your narrative?

The Old Git - please remember, omicron is here, but Delta, and all the other variants are still there too. 

[The Old Git]

13 minutes ago, Cambon said:

The Old Git - please remember, omicron is here, but Delta, and all the other variants are still there too. 

I understand that perfectly, thanks. 
 

ETA For clarity I was replying to

“I am yet to hear of anyone who has tested positive this month who had any more than a slight headcold.”

which made no mention of the variant 

Edited December 31, 2021 by The Old Git

[Cambon]

1 hour ago, Ramseyboi said:

There is actually a serious point here about the guidance being given.

I have been testing everyday for three weeks following the LFT instructions. All negative.

Today I did one throat swab - positive.

I have since done another nose swab - negative.

If I do another nose swab and it is negative tomorrow then I am classed as all clear.

Believe what you want but I only swabbed my throat after hearing about others getting a different result and googling what guidance other places are giving.

Maybe our lot need to be be advising people to test differently since it appears omicron can evade nasal tests?

Ramsey - Testing your throat means the swab will pick up in what you have been consuming. It is a well known fact that orange juice and many other drinks can cause a positive test. Unless you snort OJ, your nasal swab is all that counts. 

[Zarley]

20 minutes ago, Cambon said:

Ramsey - Testing your throat means the swab will pick up in what you have been consuming. It is a well known fact that orange juice and many other drinks can cause a positive test. Unless you snort OJ, your nasal swab is all that counts. 

If the boi actually read the whole Slate article he linked to, it says to wait a half hour after eating, drinking or brushing your teeth due to the possibility of a false positive.

I'd be inclined to wait an hour to be on the safe side.