Following the Government’s decision to end the legal requirement for people to stay at home if they test positive for Covid, the immunosuppressed and disabled communities will feel more at risk every time we go out. The emergency law is set to expire on March 24 and there are no plans to renew it. This date may even be brought forward. If you are more likely to get seriously ill from Covid then knowing your antibody status can help you make informed choices and stay safe.
If you have an underlying health condition, there will be very few measures left in place to protect you. With mask-wearing, Covid passes and working from home being scrapped at the end of January, it feels like all the restrictions are being lifted very quickly. As someone who is immunosuppressed, I feel very worried that every time I go to the hospital, pharmacist, the shops or to work I could be around people who are Covid positive.
At present, I know that most people who are Covid positive are staying at home so there is a lower risk of catching Covid. When the law changes there will be no obligation for anyone to stay home or let you know they have the virus and could pass it on to you. I understand that we must learn to ‘live with Covid’ and we all want to get back to normal. I would just feel safer if the restrictions were eased gradually so that scientists and medical experts could track the levels of infection as they ease. With protection disappearing all at once I am worried that the rates of infection will go up dramatically and put us at risk.
It feels like the Prime Minister is making these decisions to deflect from all the focus on his behaviour and not in relation to the level of infection rates or for the protection of those who are vulnerable.
It’s not an option for me to self-shield because of other pressures of life like needing to go to hospital appointments, collecting medication from the pharmacy and going into the office for work so it is very likely that I will come into contact with people that are Covid positive. One way that I can #TakeControl is knowing my level of protective antibodies to Covid-19. This will give me the peace of mind of knowing if I have protection from having serious symptoms if I catch Covid.
With the BioSURE COVID-19 Antibody Self Test you can find out if you have protection in 3 easy steps and you know your own result in just 20 minutes. You have the results at your finger-tips as there is no need to send it away to a lab. You can test regularly to know if you have protective antibodies to Covid-19 and then make informed choices about where and when you go out.
I feel more confident knowing that you can #KnowYourStatus and keep an eye on your level of protective antibodies to COVID-19. I will still follow some social distancing measures like mask-wearing, tracking my antibodies regularly, and seeing how my body responds to my fourth dose of the vaccine (booster) and make my choices accordingly so I can ‘live with Covid’ as best as I can.
By Tracey Parker, BioSure Global Ltd employee
#BeBioSure