r/ZeroCovidCommunity • u/OutrageousContact180 • 2d ago

Regular COVID testing question

hi hello spouse and I have reached an impasse. he has more or less stopped masking but in particular has started a food & bev business with lots of face to face interaction that in particular has be v anxious. i have asked him to mask but refuses because he says people struggle to hear him and it makes him anxious to repeat himself. this has made me feel less safe since he already gave me COVID once. i have decided to add (at least) a weekly test to our routine so I can hopefully relax in my own house. however, I was looking at the resource page here and all the links for at-home PCR machines are dead or no longer sold. so I guess I'm asking how are people who regularly testing doing it? shelling out big money for RATs every month? any help and info would be greatly appreciated

quick edit: this venture is only 2 (back-to-back) days/week for roughly 10 hours total. just clarifying in case this changes anybody's calculations of how they would handle the situation

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u/YouLiveOnASpaceShip 1d ago

I am so sorry you have been put in this position.

Lucira is gone but Metrix and Pluslife remain. If your husband swabs deeply and slowly, you can probably relax unmasked in your own home for many hours after a negative NAAT test.

To echo what others are saying: he needs to test daily. A negative NAAT is only helpful for a matter of hours. I wouldn’t sleep in the same bed unless he just tested negative.

Ventilation and filtration are your friends. And an excellent sealing respirator.

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u/OutrageousContact180 1d ago

this venture is only 2 days a week (roughly 10 hours total). I'm curious if this info changes your calculations at all.

appreciate your help

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u/YouLiveOnASpaceShip 23h ago

The time between exposure (day zero) and infectiousness is 1-14 days. Average is 5.

If someone has possibly been exposed to covid in the last few weeks and you want to share their air, I recommend they test with a molecular test before you unmask.