Do you bother with covid tests?

[DawnM]

A is sick.   He has symptoms of covid but I really don't want to go get a covid test for him.   Lazy parenting.   Is it necessary these days or is it ok to just let the virus run its course, whatever it is.

[Laura Corin]

Yes.

[regentrude]

Yes. We test.

Just got over my first bout of Covid. Started out exactly like allergies. 

You can, of course, just assume it's Covid and quarantine/mask based on that assumption. 

Hope he feels better soon.

Eta: don't test too early. Both dd and I tested negative before testing positive a couple days later.

Edited September 10 by regentrude

[heartlikealion]

Well I’d want to test but I bet all my tests are considered too old or been exposed to the wrong temps. 

[TheReader]

Depends if you need the test to get the doctor's note/missing school note/missing work note/etc. 

If you are going to isolate & mask anyway, on the assumption it is Covid, then it's fine to skip the test (esp. if you don't have any at home anyway). If you are going to skip the test so that you can get back to whatever as soon as he's feeling a little better......not so much. 

[Heartstrings]

I don’t bother testing anymore. The at home test are absolutely garbage at this point, you can’t trust the negatives.  You basically have to test daily for the entire duration of the illness annd still can’t be sure. I’m not doing that.  I’ll let the doctor test me if I end up there, but again you can’t trust the negatives.  

Edited September 10 by Heartstrings

[Melanie32]

We don’t test here either. We just stay home and rest and treat any illness like we normally would.

[Katy]

I do test, but we have them on hand. The board is more careful than average when it comes to this. Last I knew the official recommendation is that you don’t need to test unless you or a close associate is immunocompromised or needs paxlovid. 

[Carrie12345]

We keep tests at home and we use them. BUT, I recognize that we, as homebodies, are rarely sick, so it isn’t as if we’re burning through them at a crazy rate.

My sisters DO go through many tests. They have kids in school and aftercare, so regularly have bugs, who spend time with medically susceptible grandparents, so it’s important that they know as much as possible. Also, it’s just kindness towards everyone they’re in contact with. 

Example: my niece came up positive as I was just arriving for a family visit. Had she not tested and quarantined, we both could have given it to my parents AND I could have given it to the whole plane back before my own household. Yuck.

[Ethel Mertz]

We test. We’re old, one of us is immune compromised, 2 out of 3 of us are exposed to large numbers of people on a daily basis, and we’re around other high risk individuals frequently. However, even if we didn’t have the above mitigating factors, we’d still test so we could notify people we’d been around.

[mommyoffive]

Just got this today

https://thosenerdygirls.substack.com/p/is-it-a-cold-or-covid-3-good-reasons?utm_source=post-email-title&publication_id=366170&post_id=148687587&utm_campaign=email-post-title&isFreemail=true&r=q2z70&triedRedirect=true&utm_medium=email

[MaryCrawley]

We don't bother.

A few months ago I was fairly certain I had strep so went to the urgent care, and in addition to the strep swab, they also wanted to run a covid swab. I refused the covid swab because there's no point to the testing---if someone tests positive for strep you get antibiotics, if someone tests positive for covid (barring extreme life-threatening symptoms such as crashing O2 levels), they're told to go home and rest and eat soup, same as any other virus. 

[El...]

Yes. I can see a future where we don't need to anymore, but I'm not there yet. 

[Pawz4me]

We've only needed to test a couple of times since testing became available, but yes we do. But I'm immunocompromised and so at higher risk. I don't have a problem with people who choose not to test as long as they avoid spreading whatever it is that they have.

[Beth S]

We test.  I just Need To Know if I have Covid, or I'm just dying.  😉

[Heartstrings]

I’d like to add, if they came out with better tests I would be willing to start testing regularly again.  I’m not against testing, I’m against wasting time, money and plastic on bad tests that don’t give you answers. Imagine if pregnancy tests were as bad? 

Edited September 10 by Heartstrings

[KSera]

1 hour ago, mommyoffive said:

Just got this today

https://thosenerdygirls.substack.com/p/is-it-a-cold-or-covid-3-good-reasons?utm_source=post-email-title&publication_id=366170&post_id=148687587&utm_campaign=email-post-title&isFreemail=true&r=q2z70&triedRedirect=true&utm_medium=email

Those are some good reasons. To add two more: to know if you need to be extra cautious with activity for awhile and to document infection in case of post acute sequelae.  
 

The rapid tests often take until day 3-4 of infection to show a positive, unfortunately. I agree better tests would be hugely helpful. There are Metrix tests for home use which are much more accurate, but so expensive. Germany has a cheaper option that’s almost as accurate as a PCR. The US needs to get on it.

[Ali in OR]

We still have tests around from the free days. When dh was sick this summer he used a couple (negative) before going to church or work.

[Faith-manor]

The at home tests are not sensitive enough. The local docs and clinics are just overwhelmed because there are 4 different viruses going around. So they don't want you to come test unless you are pretty sick. The health department is not offering them anymore because according to the papers that be, covid is just not a thing anymore.

So in our area no one tests except those who are in high risk categories, really sick, and needing paxlovid or whatever they prescribe these days.

I'd probably tell the school he has influenza.

I wish they would come up with a home test that is accurate.

[Spryte]

We serial tested when we were sick in Aug, and all tests came back basically came back negative (we had a question about one, and retested immediately—negative). 

My (healthy) kid has since developed some serious, scary stuff, and the doc ran antibody tests as part of the work up. Yep, we probably had it in Aug, sky high antibodies and some other tests show likely post covid results. And we suddenly have visits to two different national children’s hospital specialists scheduled, thanks to Covid. And my active kid has been told no exercise. She had to sit down on the floor while shopping in a store on Sunday!

FWIW, I’d still test and/or stay away from other people while sick. I would not want to risk sharing this with anyone else.

Pretty sure other people don’t use the same consideration of others, though.

[kbutton]

Yes and no. They don’t seem to pick up Covid until you’re several days in, so we don’t rely on a single negative.

We don’t test for every possible symptom—I spend most of summer with allergy symptoms, and it gets worse in the fall. We mask everywhere we can (some people in our house have to eat at work or school and will have a little exposure, but we don’t eat out or indoors with others by choice), so we have to pick and choose when to test. 

That said, because we mask all the time, we are at low risk of passing something on unintentionally.

 

[SKL]

If keeping the child home, I would not test.  I'd act like a person who has been exposed to Covid (whether that means masking or whatever).

[Bootsie]

I haven't tested in a number of months, but I haven't been suspicous that I have had COVID.  I have had allergy symptoms which have coincided at times when I know the allergen level for what I am allergic to is high.  I haven't run fever or had anything out of the ordinary for me.  I haven't seen much point in testing, especially if I am not going to have confidence that a negative test is really negative.  

[KSera]

1 hour ago, Spryte said:

My (healthy) kid has since developed some serious, scary stuff, and the doc ran antibody tests as part of the work up. Yep, we probably had it in Aug, sky high antibodies and some other tests show likely post covid results. And we suddenly have visits to two different national children’s hospital specialists scheduled, thanks to Covid. And my active kid has been told no exercise. She had to sit down on the floor while shopping in a store on Sunday!

FWIW, I’d still test and/or stay away from other people while sick. I would not want to risk sharing this with anyone else.

Pretty sure other people don’t use the same consideration of others, though.

Solidarity. ((Hugs))

[MercyA]

Yes, and we test multiple times. We do have a good stockpile of tests, though, and they've worked well enough for us.

[kirstenhill]

We tested a couple of times last winter, but we haven't really been sick at all since then.  I am thinking our tests are well and expired by now - though if one of us was really sick, maybe I would try it to see.  None of our schools/employers have different policies for being sick with covid vs. anything else, so we would stay home when really sick again, and mask where it seemed sensible if having respiratory symptoms that are not sick enough to stay home for.

[CTVKath]

Yes we still test sometimes especially if I need to be around elderly relatives. No if we can stay home and treat it like a regular virus.

[athena1277]

We don’t test unless someone is sick enough to need to see a doctor.  We treat it like flu or other colds, staying home until no fever for at least 24 hours and feeling better enough to go out.

[KSera]

44 minutes ago, athena1277 said:

We don’t test unless someone is sick enough to need to see a doctor.  We treat it like flu or other colds, staying home until no fever for at least 24 hours and feeling better enough to go out.

I’d like to make an encouragement for people to follow CDC and other health department guidelines to mask for five days after returning to activities after being sick, since it’s common to still be highly contagious after starting to feel better. With Covid especially, peak viral shedding is shifted later in the illness.

[prairiewindmomma]

If he ends up with complications from the virus would it be helpful to know? Are you sending him back masking for five days either way if his fever doesnt last long? Is he exposed to other people who are medically fragile?

Those are all good reasons to test if any of those apply.

[Hilltopmom]

I’d test so you have a documented reason he’s out of school for multiple days for attendance records.

[Harriet Vane]

We test because we want access to Paxlovid. Anything to stave off long covid. And frankly, anything to keep from spreading a disease that can debilitate any organ including the brain. Having cared for multiple loved ones with dementia, I will do absolutely anything to prevent brain damage.

[wintermom]

I did, but haven't used one in a few years now. Partly because I've been healthy (knock on wood), and partly because all my rapid test kits were tossed as they were expired. 

If I suspected COVID, I'd isolate away from others - which is pretty easy when I work from home. 

[regentrude]

Testing and knowing it was Covid and not some random cold had several benefits for DD and me since we could take heightened precautions to prevent the spread. She was able to isolate in her home and prevent her partner from getting infected. I knew to mask upon return to work, and we canceled all social obligations. Plus I know now not to schedule my vaccine for any time soon. 

Maybe everybody takes all these precautions for any random virus, but I probably wouldn't have, and judging by what I see, most people don't bother even with known Covid.

Knowing it was Covid also makes me more patient with my return to physical activity. I am an active person, and it is really difficult for me not to push myself when I'm frustrated with fatigue four weeks after this started. Knowing about the dangers of long Covid helps me take things slow. I probably wouldn't if I had thought it was just a cold.

Edited September 10 by regentrude