Has anyone else been randomly selected for the Covid survey?

We contribute to the Zoe study and have just been invited to do swab tests for the third time. The invitation says ‘random sample’. Waiting for the self administered tests to arrive.

covid.joinzoe.com/data

I’ve been taking part in the above for months now.

No invited here

I was offered to take part in the ONS study, but I gag REALLY badly so don’t feel that I can do it, I heard that there was a test coming out where they just take a saliva sample, so was holding out for that.

I have also joined up to the Zoe study and offered a test the day after i reported I had a rash on feet and hands. My husband and I were offered a test at a local testing station where we were given the test to do ourselves. It was uncomfortable but reassuring to have chance of a test and luckily we were both negative. We were impressed with speed of test, no queueing, test at 1 30pm and results back by text and email by 5am next morning

Seems like there is several tests doing the rounds. I have just received one from the University College London. Called Virus Watch. Anyone else doing/going to do this one?

forward typo

We have agreed to this research and waiting to hear back
with a date for them to visit. Not looking forwards to the swab tests as I gag easily but want to help.

My son does the ONS one, after being randomly selected. He enjoys the £25 he gets every time

I can’t say we’ve found the self test at all difficult to do. The discomfort is only momentary.
We were give links to a little video demo on how to do it. It said that if you do it properly, the throat swab should make you gag, and the nose ditto should make you ‘tear up’.

When we had an official test done some weeks ago, at a drive-in centre, dh put his failure to gag down to his own superior self-control! I said my own gag reaction was purely involuntary, but of course he knew best... until he started doing it himself, when he gags every time.

DD is doing the ONS one with her two boys. She said the only problem was the lack of training for the lady who comes round to the house and the fact that the software is rubbish.

We are doing the tests and haven't found any problems. Only I have received the first vouchers. H is still waiting for his. I am saving up for a bread maker. We can't decide what else to save up for.
It relieves the monotony of being at home all the time just to see a different face once a week.

mphammersley I, too was rejected when reaching the anticoagulant question for Imperial.

If you join the Zoe Study (and I have no connection with them!) and feel a little ill, they will test you. I did and was found to be positive, much to my surprise.

Local councils are also undertaking testing if you think you may have symptoms. Ours has a drive-in facility and one is tested in one's own car - using the vanity mirror to see where to take swabs.

My husband had an invitation to take a Covid test by Imperial College London and Ipsos MORI on behalf of the Department of Health and Social Care.

He tested as negative, very easy process to do with his sample of blood taken by himself and test done at home, and feedback online.

I then had an invitation from them too, but it stated in the letter that I would be for a swab test. I carried out the same questionaire as my husband, but when I got to the question regarding on anticoagulant (I take warfarin) I got a "not suitable for the test" reply. Which I found strange as I was being offered a swab test. Did try and contact them by email but have heard nothing back. So obviously no test for me. Would have been interested to know, especially if it was the blood test, that highlight antibodies present or not.

Really encouraging to hear from those of you who are participating in the tests and procedures. Thank you for your public spiritedness. To defeat this rotten Covid, we all need to pull together like this.

It seems strange to me that those who have administered the swab test themselves seem to find it mildly uncomfortable.
Those who have had it done by a medical person find it extremely uncomfortable and very unpleasant.

Just saying.

Correction - Sorry my mother in law is a 3 hour drive away, not an hour.

But what nobody knows is why some people get it mildly with some of the symptoms and others get it so bad as is in the case of Kate Garray's husband who she says may never be the same person again. We are frightened of visiting my mother in law up north - a hour journey - as she has 3 carers in her flat daily and there are other agencies going into her block of sheltered flats, its all such a risky business.

My son had a letter through from the IPSOS place, to do the online with a code to put in, but due to him working shifts nights and days he said it would be more difficult for a courier to collect, but no mention of any vouchers of any sort. How odd.

I’ve signed up but had no further contact.

gillybob I know other things can cause sepsis, someone we know who is in her 30s got sepsis as a consequence of flu.
It's going to take a while for your DH to recover fully but I hope he's on the road to recovery now.

I don't think we'll ever know for sure; I can remember all those athletes being ill when they went to Wuhan last October.

Me and DH were sent ONS survey to take part but so far have declined as worried about the contact involved with the person who comes to your home to test on numerous occasions. We are both pensioners with health issues.

I did the same Imperial College one as Romola and did find it fairly complex as well as being uncomfortable, but everything went according to plan and it's sort of reassuring, if a little meaningless, to have it confirmed that you're negative for Covid 19.

Gillybob, your husbands illness sounds terrible, what an awful time it must have been.
I must say, I’d be leaning towards it being Covid. There is so much we don’t know about this disease and the different reactions people have to it.
I hope your husband is well.

DH was selected but couldn’t follow it through as he is now on blood thinners so I presume it was the finger prick test.