It started with a mild itch in the back of my throat, before last Wednesday.
As a health reporter, I have been writing about COVID for almost two years now, and I knew full well that I was not suffering from an officially listed symptom.
But I also knew from other research that about half of people have omicron There are symptoms of common cold.
So, just to be safe, I took a rapid lateral flow test from the kitchen cupboard and wiped my nose. Negative.
Almost imperceptible but infrequent symptoms continued. And something in the back of my mind wasn’t convinced I was in the clear.
On New Year’s Eve, I had attended a dinner party, and two guests later tested positive. As per the guidelines, I started taking tests daily. all negative.
It started with a mild itch in the back of my throat, before last Wednesday. As a health reporter, Eve Simmons writes, I have been writing about COVID for almost two years now, and I was well aware that I was not suffering from an officially listed symptom (stock photo).
A scratchy throat won’t budge, so I asked The Mail on Sunday’s Dr. Ellie Cannon what I should do. ‘Get a PCR test done,’ she said. So, armed with this recommendation from a doctor (I wouldn’t have been eligible otherwise), on Thursday, January 6th, I did.
The next morning I got the result: positive.
Test and trace text messages instructing me to self-isolate. I would need to do this for ten days after my symptoms began – but could come out of isolation in seven days if I entered two negative lateral flow tests, 24 hours apart (subtracting that isolation period from five days). is) tomorrow).
But here’s the thing: The day I got my positive PCR result, I took a lateral flow test—and it was negative. I took another, took a good dig inside my nose, just to be sure. Negative.
To further confuse matters, two days later I took another lateral flow test and it was positive, and remained so until the tenth day of my isolation (at which point, you can go back outside, regardless of your test results). may, may be masked).
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So what on earth was going on? With time on my hands—I wasn’t sick, just a little sniffing—I decided to ask the experts.
And he said that I am a perfect example of how, at a time when COVID is so endemic – a common virus we have to live with – our current approach to testing, is to pick up and isolate as many cases as possible. is trying. would no longer be appropriate.
Virologist Dr Julian Tang at the University of Leicester says, ‘The government’s guidance for testing is out of date. ‘It is not suitable for highly vaccinated populations or for dealing with omicrons.’
Despite my positive PCR result, Dr. Tang says it’s possible that my negative lateral flow test results meant I wasn’t contagious.
PCR tests are highly sensitive, he explains. ‘Viral genetic material PCR can be present either before or after you are infectious.’
Lateral flow, which detects a certain protein in the virus, is the best way to identify COVID when a person is infectious.
Lateral flow, which detects a certain protein in the virus, is the best way to identify if a person is infectious (stock photo)
Dr Tang says: ‘If you are testing negative on frequent lateral flow with mild symptoms like yourself, there is no need for a PCR test for the average person.’
Studies show that, as with other respiratory viruses, the most contagious period for COVID is actually a few days before symptoms.
The virus infects cells in the upper airway, makes multiple copies of itself and begins to ‘shed’, potentially spreading to others when we breathe in.
But Dr. Tang says that for many of those people who have had three doses of the vaccine – as I have – this period of infectivity will be extraordinarily short.
‘The immune system cells made by your jabs can rapidly come together and neutralize the virus before it is shed,’ he explains.
‘It is possible that you cleared the live virus within a day or two, which is why the lateral flow test that you did earlier did not pick up.’
Perhaps this explains why I never passed the virus on to a single person, including my mother, with whom I shared a changing room during my ‘most contagious’ period, and my partner.
So what about positive results five days after my infection? What did they mean?
According to the scientists I spoke to, the most plausible explanation is that the tests were detecting viral proteins bound to the fighter cells of my immune system, and I still found it unlikely to infect anyone.
Studies have shown that, for this reason, lateral flow tests can also give positive results weeks after symptoms have stopped.
Did I isolate unnecessarily? Ultimately it doesn’t matter much, as I can do my work from home or office. But with the closure of public services that have left so many people isolated, it is clear that a rethink is needed.
The day after my positive PCR, I did a lateral flow test… negative!
Now that the virus is endemic, some say it may be time to do away with routine lateral flow testing for people without symptoms.
The idea behind asking people to do these tests before going to work or attending an event was to try to catch cases of COVID during the period when it is most contagious.
This was meant to slow the spread, but the guidance was put in pre-vaccine rollout and pre-Omicron. We are in a different world now.
“We need to start treating COVID-19 like the flu or any other respiratory virus,” says Professor Robert Dingwall, a sociologist at Nottingham Trent University and a former government advisor.
‘You stay home if you don’t feel well, but you don’t test yourself to find out exactly which virus you have.
‘People who are obsessed and feel the need to test all the time can purchase lateral flow equipment – but they are not necessary for everyone.’
There is a second possibility, that the lateral flow test I took at the beginning of my infection was known as a false negative—in other words, it was false.
Lateral flow tests differ in method. Some devices require you to swab both the nose and throat, others only the nose. I had a nose—only one. And nosebleeds, it turns out, aren’t as efficient at taking down the Omicron version.
Recent US studies have found that Omicron viral cells replicate faster in the throat than in the nasal cavity, which is worth knowing for sure.
Dr. Tang says: ‘I would recommend swabbing both the nose and throat, regardless of the instructions on the test packet.’
When I did this the lateral flow test came back with a positive result.
So did I even need to know that my very mild cold was covid?
Probably not, but we’ll never know for sure – and, at present, the advice is to continue to follow the rules. And as frustrating as it was, having been in solid state for ten days, at least I did a lot of washing.
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