Corona virus testing

GrannyGravy13

Whitewavemark2 I would be extremely surprised if GPs wanted to carry out Covid testing, most surgeries have a ring of steel round them at the moment and many receptionists have turned into rabid gatekeepers .

Becore you get to speak to a human we have to listen to a long spiel which basically says that if you have even one of the many symptoms of Covid go straight to 111 or the NHS website.

Not testing but screening.

The government have had the whole of the summer to get organised for what is happening now. It isn’t as if it wasn’t expected. But they were too busy making sure the work was given to their mates.

Hancock being mocked in the HoC

www.theguardian.com/politics/video/2020/sep/10/matt-hancock-presents-operation-moonshot-to-open-laughter-in-commons-video

It must be a nightmare for those who need to be tested for Covid, who wants to travel miles whilst feeling ill. ,

I can see why people wouldn't bother. A friend had a bad cough, so got a test.

It came back negative - but, - as tests only identify 70% of cases, she still has to isolate for two weeks!

Hetty58- I had a test as recommended by 111 - it was negative, they advised I see my GP, who prescribed antibiotics for a chest infection. I wasn't asked to isolate for two weeks and I don't know anyone who had a negative test who was asked to isolate.
Is this a New Thing? or related to a specific area in the country do you know.

Iam64, she's a teacher in London and was told any symptoms (at all) meant two weeks in isolation (as the test is unreliable) - so therefore the test is only useful for contact tracing. I can't see that working very well if testing seems such a problem.

Hetty's right. It's estimated about 30% of tests produce false negative results, especially if the test is done when symptoms first appear. In one study, it was as high as 38%. It's better to have two tests a couple of days apart, but the system is falling over with even one test. People in key roles, such as teachers and medical staff, are being told to self-isolate for 14 days, as are pupils who are sent home.

If people could actually get a second test, it would be more reliable and people who are genuinely negative wouldn't have to spend so much time self-isolating.

There are three test centres here though not sure exactly were they are. One drive in plus two others. People on the local Facebook page said they turned up at the other sites and the staff were happy to test them. My family are all in the hotspots. Leeds, London and the West Midlands.

Our youngest GS was poorly a few weeks ago and they all had the tests. She said that it made her gag a bit but was very quick. She felt mean testing the little one as he was unwell but he made less fuss than she did.

One of my daughters has a cough. She is pretty sure that it is a normal winter cough, probably caught from one of her children back at school, or one of the children in the school in which she worked.
But when she told the school, they said they cannot have her back until she has a negative test. She has been at home all day desperately trying to book a test - anywhere. None available anywhere in the country.
What a farce -
It is going to discourage people from behaving responsibly

It is impossible for anyone to get a covid test in all of the top ten covid infection hotspots!

www.lbc.co.uk/news/uk/coronavirus-tests-local-lockdown-watchlist-covid-19-symptoms/

One of our GD's was sent home from work with a temperature and told to get tested.

Her father, tried and tried, on line, to book said test. He knew there was a testing station, not far from his place of work, so kept on trying, by phone. No luck. Took the decision to drive to this station. Arrived there, all staff, sitting on their backsides, ( his words were not so polite), nobody waiting, and he was refused the test on behalf of GD.
Today, she has been given a slot for testing, in Wales. A round journey of more that 200 miles!

Yesterday , he was incandescent with rage. I don't blame him.

I hope your GD is OK Auntieflo.

This is utterly disgraceful.

I don't blame him at all for being angry. There's a testing station not far from where I live and I've heard similar stories from other people.

What on earth is going on? Testing stations who won't test people and contact tracers who haven't been given any contacts to trace!

And apparently Hancock's claim that people are getting themselves tested without being eligible is a load of rubbish.

And Space Ranger Johnson thinks he can have a system testing 10,000,000 people a day - with technology which hasn't been invented yet!

I really despair!

People who desperately need tests cannot get them because the laboratory facilities are woefully inadequate.

About six months ago many university laboraties, research institutes and commercial companies offered to undertake the analysis of vivid tests but their offers were rejected because Cummings Vote Leave government wanted everything to be centrally controlled.

Centralised control is a hallmark of ultra right wing populist regimes.

The ministers and other managerial figureheads have been appointed on the basis of ideological ultra brexit purity and unquestioning loyalty to Johnson/ Cummings and not on the basis of competence which is why at the time when we need a capable government we have the most incompetent regime in our history.

I think the people who are manning these phone lines should take some geography lessons as they seem to be sending people all over Great Britain for these tests far away from where they live. It's a joke. My daughter has spent all day trying to get a test for my granddaughter, eventually tested at 18.30. Do they not ask where they live when they are on the phone?

I think the problem is that the processing labs can’t cope with the volume. I heard someone saying today that there is such a backlog that some tests will be invalid by the time they get round to testing them. This is at a time when the incidence of infection is rising in Care Homes again, and many towns and cities are in lockdown. It’s not even the winter flu season yet.

I wonder if one paid, it would be available? Just surmising.

So far my daughter has been trying, now for 24 hours, to get a test anywhere. No tests available by post either. She is desperate to get this done, sure it will be negative, so she can return to her school who really need her. What a total farce.

Looks like what was a just about functioning system during the Covid trough has collapsed now that cases are rising again.

Can this shower not anticipate ANYTHING? Why are they always fight a rearguard action?

Greeneyedgirl is correct, the labs are snowed under.
Today Hancock is blaming folk for testing for 'frivolous reasons'.
I knew it would be our fault.
I wonder what their next step will be?
I predict stopping tests for under twelves.

Yesterday LBC revealed that their researchers had tried to book tests in each of the top ten "covid hotspots" in England - and NONE was available at any of them.

This is in spite of the govt saying that tests were hard to get in some other areas because they were being diverted to the hotspots - a blatant lie.

FannyCornforth

Greeneyedgirl is correct, the labs are snowed under.
Today Hancock is blaming folk for testing for 'frivolous reasons'.
I knew it would be our fault.
I wonder what their next step will be?
I predict stopping tests for under twelves.

There is absolutely no data to support Hancock's claim that people are testing for "frivolous reasons".

109,075 people had been tested by 14 September for research studies. These were asymptomatic but at risk people. Researchers wanted to try and work out how prevalent infection in the community is.

There is no way of telling whether a person requesting a test is lying about symptoms, so Hancock is making it up.

Oh, I'm well aware of the lies.
They are one thing that is a constant.
I do wonder how long they will get away with it for.
How on earth can we get rid of them. Johnson especially?
It's getting very, very frightening.

No Tests Available on Merseyside !
Cases are rising here and we're " an area for concern ".