It’s a difficult time right now; vaccines are being rolled out at an encouragingly fast rate, but the Omicron variant continues to sweep through the population. Now, as universities reopen after the Christmas and New Year break, even if you are fully vaccinated and you’ve had the booster jab, it’s more important than ever to take regular lateral flow tests, because 1 in 3 people with COVID-19 don’t have any symptoms.
Last year, university life was massively disrupted after lockdowns and restrictions were put in place, but things are slowly getting back to normal, and testing yourself—even if you don’t have any symptoms—and getting boosted is the best way to keep that on track.
Music critic, YouTuber and content creator Mimi The Music Blogger recently sat down with her friend Yasmin, via Zoom, to discuss their uni friendship and experiences, as well as the importance of testing and Yasmin’s own brush with coronavirus.
“I just got [a lateral flow] from my local chemist,” Yasmin explains. “It came back positive so I had to isolate for a while, about 10 days. Now, any time I’m going anywhere, I make sure I do a test so that I’m not spreading it around because I don’t have the time. I don’t want anybody else to get Covid. So I have to make sure I’m safe, my friends are safe.”
Ultimately, Mimi says, it’s a question of being a good friend, like checking in on a friend you haven’t heard from in a while. “I personally feel people should be getting tested when they go to events or testing twice a week when they’re going to lectures so we can have some type of control on this virus, because that’s what we do for work, that’s what we do when we go out.
“It’s about being a good friend. We can enjoy ourselves, but we need to have each other’s backs. That’s the new reality.”
For more information on where to get Coronavirus tests, how to use them, and how to read and report the results, head to nhs.uk/get-tested.
