NHS app told mum to self isolate for 7 days

[Deleted User]

Why is it 7 days and not 10?
Mum has obviously been in close contact with someone who’s tested positive, does this mean the last contact with the infected person would have been Thursday, and this is why it’s 7 days and not 10?

Mum works in a hospital and does two lateral flow tests a week, the last one was done Thursday which was negative, and will do another tomorrow. No symptoms are currently being displayed. 

jd87

Yes the isolation time is 10 days from when you were exposed to the infected person. If the app only says 7 days then the contact must have been 3 days prior. That's actually pretty good. Some people have been getting the app tell them to isolate for only 4 days which means they've had 6 days of being at risk without knowing. The reason for the delay is usually because of the time it takes for the positive person to get tested and get their result back.

macman

Isn't the next step for NHS staff to report it and then get a PCR test?

silvercar

DeletedUser said:

Why is it 7 days and not 10?
Mum has obviously been in close contact with someone who’s tested positive, does this mean the last contact with the infected person would have been Thursday, and this is why it’s 7 days and not 10?

Mum works in a hospital and does two lateral flow tests a week, the last one was done Thursday which was negative, and will do another tomorrow. No symptoms are currently being displayed. 

10 days from last contact and contact has to be within 2 days of someone getting covid symptoms or being tested positive without symptoms.
If she is isolating I'm not convinced of the benefit of getting a test in the middle of the isolation period, especially if she has had no contact with anyone in the 2 days before the test.
Of course, if she has been working in a hospital and protected by screens and/or PPE (or even solid walls), the contact may not have been enough to spread the virus, which is why people working in these settings are often told to turn off track and trace.

[Deleted User]

macman said:

Isn't the next step for NHS staff to report it and then get a PCR test?

My mum isn't frontline-frontline, she's in admin. Someone at  her work did talk about getting a PCR test, but that's not been arranged at the moment. A lateral flow test was done this morning and the result came back negative. No symptoms are being displayed still. Today is four days since the contact. Instead, she's off work for a week on full pay and can pretty much relax at home! 

sheramber

She could be incubating it. That is why she has to self isolate for 10 days from contact.