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Original poster

Just back to school. Now home. Not tests available

334 replies

Whatdowehaveherethen · 08/09/2020 00:40

My boys went back to school last week. DS1 developed a persistent cough Friday evening. DS2 picked it up on Saturday.

There are no home tests available. I've looked every hour from 7am through to 2am since.

They can't go to school unless a negative result is given. I very much doubt I can get tests through the post. Many people on my area have the same issue.

I know I'm being unreasonable. I know!

Are people ordering tests 'just in case'?

I'm working from home and it's been horrendous. My boys were so happy to be back at school. Now I have to keep them off for a week. I'm pretty sure last Autumn term they developed the same cold/cough symptoms once they were back with their viral loaded friends. It was normal then.

I know keeping them off school is for the greater good but I have no idea how this is going to work in the long term. They constantly pick up viral infections. That's their job!

Actually, I'm not sorry, I'm just completely fucked off. Why haven't the gov made more tests available knowing our kids would be going back to school? What about the teachers?

The school have told me to 'continue to use' the online learning. This involves going out and finding leaves of difference colours etc. Fuck that.

I know the school are using a generalised online learning system but it's not practical at all.

I'm not going to complain by the way. I couldn't respect my boys teachers anymore. They're wonderful.

I'm just ranting.

OP posts:
Thread gallery
6
Tootletum · 08/09/2020 10:33

@Xenia I think our school said it has to be NHS test. And the school says any kid with any kind of cough has to stay off until they get a negative result, and that also includes their siblings even though sibling has no symptoms. There is basically no school for them as I'll be on a rotating series of tests and have to take hours off work each time, which I can't always do so there are more delays.

paddlingwhenIshouldbeworking · 08/09/2020 10:33

Quartz2208 I can get to Kingston, not sure where Morden is, but neither come up when I request a test. How do you access these?

I'm in a similar situation, currently have 4 children home because one sent home with a cough. Cannot get a test or home test.

DrBlackbird · 08/09/2020 10:36

LolaSmiles that list of symptom would be fine except that apparently children do not necessarily have those particular Covid symptoms. Especially not the cough.

Kings College London / Guys Hospital study apparently finds fatigue, headache, and fever are the most common Covid symptoms in children. Along with D&V.

More than half of the Covid-positive children with symptoms – 55% – had fatigue, while 54% had a headache and almost half had a fever. Sore throats were present in around 38% of the children with symptoms, while almost 35% skipped meals, 15% had an unusual skin rash and 13% had diarrhoea.

Again.... without adequate testing, parents and kids are scuppered.

EDSGFC · 08/09/2020 10:40

@Hereinthesticks

If they didn't know the vaccine worked, they wouldn't be manufacturing 35 million doses right now.
They started manufacturing it right at the very start of the trial, even before they knew if it was safe in order to build up stocks. Could you imagine the outcry of they found that they had a safe and effective vaccine but we then had to wait a year for it to be manufactured? From what I've seen reported, government is paying for this so there's no loss to the manufacturer if they have to destroy the stocks because they don't work therefore they've gone ahead with manufacturing it and gambled that it will work. If it does then we have the stock to start vaccinating straight away, if it doesn't then the government have lost money but not the manufacturer.

The vaccine being in production means nothing about the effectiveness of the vaccine, that is still under trial.

Quartz2208 · 08/09/2020 10:41

@paddlingwhenIshouldbeworking they just came up when I went via the testing site

When I go now it says unavailable!

SistemaAddict · 08/09/2020 10:43

I've been trying since yesterday and keep getting this message. I'm in Greater Manchester and don't drive so I can't go to a test centre and the nearest one is about 10 miles away. Ds and I both need a test.

Just back to school. Now home. Not tests available
RB68 · 08/09/2020 10:47

Postal tests are arriving next day - just get on with it and quit moaning - its the same for everyone you are not a special case

Hereinthesticks · 08/09/2020 10:47

@Bercows - wow, those screenshots are damning of this government's preparation for and commitment to the reopening of schools in its testing strategy (not even bothering with the track and trace side of the phrase anymore, that is a million miles away from reality).

HasaDigaEebowai · 08/09/2020 10:48

Postal tests are arriving next day - just get on with it and quit moaning - its the same for everyone you are not a special case

RTFT - you can't get a fucking postal test!

Quartz2208 · 08/09/2020 10:50

@RB68 how exactly do you get a postal test though?

When I spoke to the helpline she did say they were expecting more in this morning

TinySleepThief · 08/09/2020 10:52

@RB68

Postal tests are arriving next day - just get on with it and quit moaning - its the same for everyone you are not a special case
Ah id only we had thought to order one... Seriously at least read the most recent comments before coming on and being so fucking rude.
LondonJax · 08/09/2020 10:52

One woman on the radio said her DH had a 5 hour round trip (Banbury into Wales) for a drive in test last week as they had nothing more local than that. Totally ridiculous. Do we really want people, potentially with Covid, making car trips on motorways? A few weeks ago we were told to stay local, don't travel a long way in case you have an accident. So travelling to a test centre automatically means you won't breakdown or be hit by another car and need help?

Why they don't just send each family a home test kit just in case then allow them to order another to keep in stock I don't know.

Or better still have the GP surgeries hold test clinics. Many GPs have been saying they can't understand why they aren't being used rather than having drive through test centres miles away from most people - you just encourage people to drive when they may not feel 100% well or worse still, get public transport with fingers crossed when you have a test centre appointment if you can't drive or don't feel up to it.

I don't drive, DH works away from home. If DS or I have symptoms and we can't get a home test, I don't go to work and DS doesn't go to school until DH gets home a week later or we get on a bus... That's it. If the testing stations and the government want this to work they need to up their game and use local services more. I swear they live in la la land.

JeanMichelBisquiat · 08/09/2020 10:53

EVERYONE!!! I just gave up and drove to my local one, described as appointment-only, having not been able to get a test slot anywhere under a four hour round trip away in the next five days.

Guess what? Drove straight in, no probs accommodating us, no queue, several testing.huts didn't have a car next to them, in an out in 15 mins - and they had a system for registering tests that haven't been pre-booked all set up.

So just drive to your local drive through and see if they'll see you - we clearly didn't add to capacity this morning.

God knows what's going on with the booking system....

SleepingStandingUp · 08/09/2020 10:54

@RB68

Postal tests are arriving next day - just get on with it and quit moaning - its the same for everyone you are not a special case
Oh do not off @RB68 Post after post on the thread makes it clear that despite trying for hours on end, plenty of people CANNOT get one!
ErinBrockovich · 08/09/2020 10:54

Tbh if it stays like this most will just send kids in with symptoms
@puzzleboxes before my experience this morning I would have thought anyone who did this was a selfish arse.
Having experienced:

  • No postal tests available
  • No walk in tests available
  • My 2 closet drive through centres being fully booked for the next 5 days. The 3rd closet being 169 miles away.
-119 having a recorded message stating they are too busy to take any calls and disconnecting the line

I’ll do the same.

SistemaAddict · 08/09/2020 10:55

@RB68 I was trying to get a postal test as don't drive. The above post from me shows the message I got. It was the same yesterday. Our family has used the system before with no problem. Amazon usually deliver but sometimes Hermes. They usually arrive the next day and we've got results 2 days later. This is really shit when schools and unis have just gone back. They should have been persisted for increased demand.

LolaSmiles · 08/09/2020 11:00

Postal tests are arriving next day - just get on with it and quit moaning - its the same for everyone you are not a special case
Except they're not.

Lots of people are being told there's no at home testing available.

Rinoachicken · 08/09/2020 11:00

@JeanMichelBisquiat that’s really good to know thanks

AristotleAteMyHamster · 08/09/2020 11:01

I’ve just tried to get one and the only one offered was a walk-through in St Andrews.

I live in Sussex...

TinySleepThief · 08/09/2020 11:06

The website has now come back online but now it's not showing me any test centres its just asking me to choose if i want a drive through or walk through test and then asking me for lots of additional information e.g my employer, ethnic background and if i have a landline number (despite already entering a mobile number). Has anyone elses changed??

LarkDescending · 08/09/2020 11:06

Sarah-Jane Marsh of NHS Test & Trace has tweeed this:

Can I please offer my heartfelt apologies to anyone who cannot get a COVID test at present. All of our testing sites have capacity, which is why they don’t look overcrowded, its our laboratory processing that is the critical pinch-point. We are doing all we can to expand quickly.

Hereinthesticks · 08/09/2020 11:06

Why they don't just send each family a home test kit just in case then allow them to order another to keep in stock I don't know. Or better still have the GP surgeries hold test clinics.
Yes, definitely more localised strategy required. I don't think GPs want suspected coronavirus cases in their clinics, but there seems no reason why a local pharmacy or similar cannot drop off a test kit on your doorstep. Obviously that requires logistical planning, preparation and funding, but the government have had since June when they promised a return to full-time education to work on this and haven't done any preparation for the inevitable increase in tests that would be required. The system is still highly centralised (tests being sent from Scotland to the south of England?) and inflexible and clearly under-capacity.

LarkDescending · 08/09/2020 11:07

*tweeted

HasaDigaEebowai · 08/09/2020 11:07

Mine does that - and then sends you to St Andrews

Hereinthesticks · 08/09/2020 11:11

its our laboratory processing that is the critical pinch-point
So there are lots of test kits, but not enough people or labs to process them and give the results. That is a basic failing and unacceptable. So the capacity figures are lies, which is what the media always try to get Matt Hancock to admit to. The figures are simply the number of test kits sitting in a supply room. Doesn't mean anything if there is no-one to analyse them.