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I, like you have used them before visiting a very vulnerable relative but the challenge is that the negative lateral flow test could give false confidence that you aren't infectious and people might then not follow the other precautions (mask, space, high ventilation areas etc.)
Makes sense. But I understand them as being a useful tool if you use them wisely and in the context of all other measures rather than making them useless.
Stonehedge
greentricky
My understanding is one of this issues with them is that all the effectiveness data published around them relates to them being used in the context of people with symptoms and they are reasonably accurate when used by people showing symptoms to confirm if it is covid or not.
What they weren't designed for is identifying people with asymptomatic cases, so being used on mass by people with no symptoms is questionable as they are far less sensitive than a PCR test which will pick up miniscule amounts of virus.
I, like you have used them before visiting a very vulnerable relative but the challenge is that the negative lateral flow test could give false confidence that you aren't infectious and people might then not follow the other precautions (mask, space, high ventilation areas etc.). You sound like me and sensibly cautious. I avoided contact with others a week+ before before visiting and took the test as an extra precaution on top. Two weeks ago I went to the pub to watch England/Scotland and had friends who took a LFT the next day which came back negative and then went on to visiting friends,family attending other events the same weekend which I wouldn't of dreamed of and this is due to the test giving them overconfidence with the negative result. Two days later one of them was contacted by track and trace as a close contact with someone they had come in to contact with on the day we went to the pub and had to isolate. A PCR confirmed them negative but it could just of easily gone the other way.