I hope you do feel better soon. And I suspect it will be soon. If I had to guess (and I can not claim to be an expert) I would say your next test will show a more feint line.

I hope you quickly recover, though it wouldn't surprise me if you have a couple of weeks of getting very tired quite easily every evening. I've a feeling you have another 4 days given the symptoms and the line. If tomorrow has a thick line then it's 4 days, if tomorrow is much less distinct then you will be clear in 2 days.

Thank you for your kind wishes! Your prediction was right, it WAS faint the next day and I had high hopes, but maybe that was an experimental error or daily fluctuation, but the following day was stronger positive which was depressing. However, this morning I am happy to be negative. Thanks for your reports and keeping them going in spite of the paucity of data. It's the first thing I look for when I browse the forum.

https://cimg9.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.fly...fd4d37d7b1.jpg
one week to clear


Thank you for your input, you were right! I am negative today at last. I haven't noticed tiredness as such. I think the coughing fits are the worst for me, they come out of the blue several times an hour, which persists for a few hours, then they go away for awhile. If it happens at night, I don't get any quality sleep. The headaches were next worst but they mostly stopped a couple days ago. I don't suppose it's possible to get a recovery certificate nowadays in case countries get skittish about Centaurus? And, is there any point in entering the newly negative test in the system? I noticed the positive one propagated to my gps record.


FWIW, the 'lollipop' tests (that's what they look like to me) supplied by my workplace were pretty useless. Or not very sensitive at any rate. They kept saying I was negative the whole week. Maybe that's because they don't want people taking sick leave.

https://cimg4.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.fly...ff3cae2775.jpg

All fascinating stuff isn't it. The coughing should stop fairly soon, it's rare for that to be a pesistent thing. Personally I don't see the need for recovery certificates, you are almost guaranteed to get 3 plus months of negative tests now, which will be one small advantage of this. Generally registering information is better than not doing so, but I must admit I wouldn't go to a lot of trouble.

Cws, I'm calling on your wisdom for this question.

If we tested positive for covid about a month ago, and thus became negative on antigen a week and a bit after that, what are the chances that a PCR on arrival in Canada, if randomly selected, would be positive next week? 3-4 weeks tops after the antigen went negative? There's 3 of us, we all had it roughly at the same time.

Feeling very nervous about this!

I'm exempt as my PCR result from January exempts me, but the others have no PCR proof of their June infection.

Today's weekly data from the ONS survey. In the week ending 6-7 July2022:

One in 19 people in England had Covid (last week one in 25)
One in 17 in Wales had Covid (last week one in 20)
One in 17 in Northern Ireland had Covid (last week one in 19)
One in 16 in Scotland had Covid (last week one in 17)

This is data from a week ago. Hopefully next weeks release will suggest that we are at the peak.

Very low risk, sub 1 in 100, heading to 1 in 1000 risk area. It wouldn't concern me if I was in that position.

You've made my day. The one who had it first will be at the four week mark, nearly, and the one who had it last will be at the three week mark when we arrive in Canada. Thank you!

Though when I told them this 1 in 100 they said was very high chances so stress hasn't been relieved with everyone sadly!

Quick follow up, does how sick you got impact on the odds? Two of us, for whom it was our second time, was borderline asymptomatic, but one, for whom it was his first time, had mild symptoms like coughing. Would his odds of testing positive be the highest?

Based upon my experience, impossible to say. An example is from local NHS Staff who had virtually no symptoms but continue to currently test positive at 20 days (and that's both PCR and Antigen). And there are many others who had bad symptoms but quickly stop being infectious. How COVID impacts you and your body can fight the infection to a point where you are no longer transmissive can vary tremendously. And of course the specific varient you caught, which most people don't know for certain.

​​​

I would go along with the previous reply. One would perhaps think that bad infection = lots and prolonged markers for COVID-19 but it doesn't work that way. Everyone has a personal trek in this area and though some aspects are predictable, many aspects are not. One which is predictable and may assist you is that a correctly done throat and nose lateral very rarely shows an opposite result on PCR.

Interesting. I have the flowflex tests with me. If I do it in my throat then nose (instead of just nose) do you think that would be an accurate reflection then? Or do you mean I would need one of the really old lateral flows meant to go into the throat too?

They all work more or less the same way, the only difference really being whether the supplied swab is long/bendy enough for the throat. You want throat then one nostril, same swab, go slowly, but you don't need to overdo it. If you do have COVID still it doesn't need a massive dig around. The advice to do both locations has been around for a bit, but from Omicron onwards it really is quite accurate.

I have always done both, even with the Flowflex kits. Initially because I did not read the instructions, but then because it was suggested doing both would be more accurate.