Ending of free testing in England

We have had more of the BA2 variant in Scotland compared to England and Wales and it is even more transmissible than BA1. Northern Ireland had it first and their rates are going down now. I still feel that wearing a mask in crowded places is protective and will keep doing that. I’m also glad we still have free LFTs at the moment.

test before visiting……

Incidentally Shinamae, you are telling me what happened last week.
That is no longer relevant, the new guidance came in yesterday, the 1st April. Visitors to care homes no longer need to rest before visiting!

Legs55

I received a box of LFT kits, no follow up email but I have had a letter stating I am still in a vulnerable group, Diabetic Type2, I'm 66. Also have a PCR test & I will receive tablets if I test positive. So far I have managed to avoid catching Covid, I have numerous Hospital Appointments & still go shopping, I do try to wear a ask but I have breathing difficulties due to having AF. All my family have had it once or twice, maybe I've been lucky or have a natural immunity

I do suffer from Hay Fever (tree pollen) so I do cough, sneeze etc despite all my medication

I'm 67 and type 2 diabetic so does that mean I'm still considered vulnerable. I haven't received any tests or new advice so is it your AF that makes you vulnerable - I don't know what that is!

Shinamae
I assure you that it is true Shinamae, do you think I’m lying since you find it difficult to believe?
I am not lying. I arrived at my mother’s care home yesterday to be told by the deputy manager that visitors to care homes are no longer required to test before visiting. My mother has been in a care home for six months and visitors have had to test before visiting. Testing is no longer required by care homes for visitors. This is government policy. The staff are still required to test. The visitors are not required to test. Believe or not Shinamae, but it is the truth.

MaizieD? QED.

Many many people will not pay for a test. The numbers testing positive will drastically reduce. The people who want to, will use the new stats to their advantage.
Nobody will be able to understand how the stats show so few cases but more people are becoming ill and the hospitals again become overwhelmed.
We are a nation of selfish idiots.
PS. I often feel that only those of us who have been very ill with Covid or lost someone dear, can see through the blindfolds.

BlueBelle

But these tests aren’t always helping , there is a local choir here and everyone tests before going to the rehearsal evening, A few weeks ago those attending had all tested negative, but the next day the choir leader let everyone know that she had now tested positive for Covid ….within two days 14 out of 20 members had CoviD
??‍♀️

A test is only as good as the person doing it.

With regard to care homes surely the home itself has to take some responsibility to check that all visitors have done a lateral flow and for those that cannot afford the £2 to take a test they should have a supply to offer them. The last care home I had experience of charged 1k a week so a few spare tests should not be that extortionate. They I believe will still receive free tests for staff

There have been several posts here and on other threads saying its all a government plot to make it look as though there are fewer cases. That cannot be the case while the ONS are still publishing their results.

I can understand why people are concerned about not being able to test when they feel they should. I have a couple of boxes of tests to use if I go to visit my elderly relatives and I count myself lucky that I can afford to buy more if I need to.

In answer to your last paragraph, the answer is "no".

So it would be really good if people stopped trying to paint everybody who doesn't buy into the apocalypse scenarios as an enemy of the people intent on denying facts.

volver

We really need to put a lid on this myth that if we all stop testing the infection rates will be hidden. Just yesterday, the ONS Infection report came out, and that does not use the reported cases to estimate prevalence. As far as I'm aware, the ONS reporting is going to continue. Does anyone have the opposite view?

I don't think that people are so much worried about not knowing what the infection rates are so much as, with the loss of free testing kits people will, wittingly or unwittingly, by 'carrying on with their lives regardless', working and socialising while infected, increase infection rates.

Are you also of the opinion that the research which shows that the covid19 virus can seriously affect any organ in the body, causing long term damage in a way that colds and flu can't, potentially storing up a future public health crisis, is just so much doom mongering?

But these tests aren’t always helping , there is a local choir here and everyone tests before going to the rehearsal evening, A few weeks ago those attending had all tested negative, but the next day the choir leader let everyone know that she had now tested positive for Covid ….within two days 14 out of 20 members had CoviD
??‍♀️

Our not Mike!!

maddyone

I’m still concerned about the lack of a requirement to test before visiting elderly relatives in care homes.

At Mike home they definitely have to test and temperature taken and won’t be let in without. A man last week tried to visit his mother a girl at the door asked him to show his lateral flow test he said he had forgotten it and left it at home but he was negative, she insisted on testing again and he was positive, unbelievable that he was willing to come into the care home and possibly infect residents and staff..?

maddyone

When I arrived at my mother’s care home yesterday it turns out that I no longer need to do a Covid test before I visit. I’d already done an LFT test and tried to register the result but received no text to show at the home. I explained to the deputy manager who let me in and she told me about this new arrangement. Apparently their staff still have to test but not the visitors. In the last few months they’ve had three Covid outbreaks all very successfully contained by their outbreak policy. Now visitors no longer need to test to visit a care home are we looking at many fatal outbreaks in care homes like at the beginning of the pandemic?

I find this difficult to believe as our visitors to our care home have to do a lateral flow every time. I think it is totally ridiculous to have staff fully vaccinated and yet to let visitors in with no proof of negative test….. unbelievable!!?‍♀️?‍♀️

I have seen it suggested that the high rate in Scotland is because the predominant variant here is omicron 2 which is more infectious. It is likely to become predominant elsewhere and rates of infection elsewhere will then also rise.

Rate in Scotland yesterday, down to 1:12. Rate in England, up to 1:13.

I think you are correct Chaitriona.

Best wishes to your son, hope he's OK.

My daughter had a scam text last night, purporting to be from the NHS. The NHS website said to be aware of scams trying to trick people into buying LFT tests.

rosie1959

I have noticed although rates are high in Germany and France they have also dropped their mask ruling rules considerably.
I admit I really don’t have the faith that mask wearing makes that much difference to the spread of Omicron.

I thought too that wearing masks was no longer mandatory in Germany, but when I crossed the border today to do my shopping, I discovered that all the shops still have notices up asking you to please wear a a mask, and that everyone was complying with the request.

So it may not be mandatory any more, but a lot of people are prefering to continue to wear masks.

DH experienced the same thing in Flensburg last week.

Here in Denmark the figures are certainly going down, but it is anyone's guess whether this will continue or not. (Right now we are all rather more concerned about whether any Ukranian atomic power stations will be damaged by Russian missiles, as unless the wind is blowing away from us and towards Russia if this should happen, we will have a completely different health issue to worry about.)

Wearing a surgical mask properly protects others from our germs, but has little or no effect the other way round.

As people are still being infected with one or mutation of Covid 19, they are obviously coming into contact with th virus somewhere.

I have felt all along that wearing a mask certainly could do no harm, but it might not be doing much good. Frequent hand-washing and making sure that things such as used masks, gloves and kleenex are disposed of correctly by being put into a plastic bag that is then knotted shut before it is put in the bin probably does far more good than just wearing masks.

I have and always will wear a mask and I'm just getting over Covid. I wear a mask not for my benefit, but for others. The filters I put in every time filters the air I breath out. It's not a nice virus as I admit I haven't been well but today is the first day I'm negative. I still wheeze and cough, I can only potter about the house as I am absolutely shattered after too much, but at least the headaches have stopped and I no longer have a temp, I feel blessed. For goodness sake wearing s mask isn't taking away your liberties it's having respect for others and giving them a chance of not catching the infection. Try wearing a mask for a 12 hour shift, and the ones alot of the NHS use it not a light weight disposable one, it's one that fits snuggly against the skin, that can rub and irritate. Start saving lives including yours.

Free testing should continue. There is no guarantee that a worse variant will not arise at any time. There are serious long Covid effects even from the Omicron variant. How many people can die and suffer from untreatable long Covid for the rest of their lives simply so 'we can get on with life'? What is acceptable and who decides? Clearly, Johnson does and I don't believe he cares for anything other than getting re-elected.

rosie1959

Grandmabatty

I'm assuming it's because more people in Scotland are testing and recording results. The approach here has generally been more cautious.

The testing rate in Scotland does not appear higher according the the uk dashboard testing over the last 7 days in Scotland just under 140k testing in England 4.5m

I have seen it suggested that the high rate in Scotland is because the predominant variant here is omicron 2 which is more infectious. It is likely to become predominant elsewhere and rates of infection elsewhere will then also rise.

My son in law caught it in the care home where he works. He had no choice but to move into an area where two residents and two care workers had tested positive because residents must be cared for. He caught it in one day and seven out of nine residents then tested positive. The care home has been covid free since near the start of the epidemic. It is very infectious. Though the staff do have masks, they are not of high quality.

I received a box of LFT kits, no follow up email but I have had a letter stating I am still in a vulnerable group, Diabetic Type2, I'm 66. Also have a PCR test & I will receive tablets if I test positive. So far I have managed to avoid catching Covid, I have numerous Hospital Appointments & still go shopping, I do try to wear a ask but I have breathing difficulties due to having AF. All my family have had it once or twice, maybe I've been lucky or have a natural immunity

I do suffer from Hay Fever (tree pollen) so I do cough, sneeze etc despite all my medication

We really need to put a lid on this myth that if we all stop testing the infection rates will be hidden. Just yesterday, the ONS Infection report came out, and that does not use the reported cases to estimate prevalence. As far as I'm aware, the ONS reporting is going to continue. Does anyone have the opposite view?

It's not "stopping testing", what has been stopped is freely available Lateral Flow tests on demand. Apparently the suppliers - pharmacies, supermarkets and other places can set their own price. I think this is wrong, especially when covid cases are increasing.
People will be reluctant to take a test before they go to some large event with hundreds of people and a good chance of coming into contact with the virus.
Think of a family with three or four children who have previously tested each of them, say, twice a week - how much will this cost?
How many will say they have done a test when they haven't. I know I would.
I understand tests are still freely available for some categories, medical staff, people working in care homes etc.
I totally approve of this, but the testing should be freely available to all who want it. To do otherwise is asking for trouble.
I know of someone who regularly visits his elderly mother with dementia who lives in a care home. He is asked to provide a lateral flow test before each visit and is more than happy to do this. Fortunately he is in a position to afford to pay for the tests if necessary. But not everyone is so fortunate. Some will no longer visit, some will lie about have done a test and the end result will be bad for patients and visitors alike, not to mention the extra strain on the staff.
We need to keep Lateral Flow Test freely available until the numbers of covid infections is considerably lower,

I can’t afford to buy any tests so I won’t be. I still wear a mask, social distance and wash my hands thoroughly whenever I have been out. I am quite disgusted at some of the attitudes on here. Tests should be free because it affects everyone, and we can’t all afford to pay for them. But then, if loads of people stop testing the infection rates will be hidden, won’t they?