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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

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Original poster

Should I just turn up- coronavirus

66 replies

Redcups64 · 12/09/2020 09:01

My youngster was fine yesterday but come evening time started to feel ill. She had a High temperature, was sick due to extra mucas, slight cough due to the mucus and trying to clear it from her throat. She is young so doesn’t spit it out or has quite mastered how to draw it up to her mouth and into a tissue so just keeps swallowing. Hence the buildup in her tummy and her being sick.

She has been back to school this week and just has a cold.

This morning she is perfectly fine and slept through the night last night after she was sick around 8pm yesterday.

Here’s the problem: I stupidly may have accidentally notified a friend of mine for advice, who also happens to work at my daughters school 🤦🏻‍♀️

So because she now knows I need to get my daughter a test....been trying since 8pm last night, all through the night and this morning with absolutely no luck at all....tests are gold dust at the moment!!

I’m close to a airport that has a drive through test centre....should I just try turning up as my daughter is fine but can’t go to school for 2 weeks without a test and also affecting my eldest now not being able to go to school!!

Yanbu- try turning up
Yabu- just keep trying on a website that is not working

OP posts:

Scrambledbeans · 12/09/2020 13:56

I turned up a test centre this morning without an appointment and after explaining we couldn’t book anything on the website, they tested 3 of us. You are given a barcode and asked to register this online afterwards for your results.

Toomanyapplesinthefruitbowl · 12/09/2020 15:01

If you turn up without an appointment you get given a barcode and you register your details to that code online afterwards - it’s just the opposite way round. Our experience was that the test site were happy people were just turning up as it meant they could test more people than have big chunks of wasted days. We’re in a spike area and they’re well aware people can’t get appointments online

Plussizejumpsuit · 12/09/2020 15:06

You definitely can't just turn up, I've had a drive through test back in June. The staff there aren't making decisions about eligibility they need aqr code on your phone to link the test to you etc.

MomToTwoBabas · 12/09/2020 16:35

What a stupid post. Of course you cannot just turn up why would you think you can. Tada here I am! God help us.

SaltyAndFresh · 12/09/2020 17:19

@MomToTwoBabas

What a stupid post. Of course you cannot just turn up why would you think you can. Tada here I am! God help us.

What a rude post. I mean, if you'd read the thread you'd see that in many cases, you actually can just turn up.

Todaythiscouldbe · 12/09/2020 17:42

@MomToTwoBabas

What a stupid post. Of course you cannot just turn up why would you think you can. Tada here I am! God help us.

You absolutely can just turn up at some testing sites. As I have said before I have three local 'walk in' sites. Perhaps check facts before being so rude.

DishRanAwayWithTheSpoon · 12/09/2020 17:52

I personally think you shouldnt just turn up somewhere that you are supposed to book without an appointment.

Glad youve got a test OP, she has had a temperature so she does need one.

Hiddenmnetter · 12/09/2020 19:14

Turned up at a local test site to me that apparently had no bookings available. Lo and behold, the huge test site that is capable of taking thousands (if not tens of thousands) of tests per day was literally empty of other people, with around 100 staff sitting around on their phones.

They wanted to send me away when I said I didn't have an appointment, but I said I was a key worker and should have been at work then, but couldn't because my daughter has a fever. I showed them my staff ID, and they sent us through. No QR code required, I had to take the barcode on the test pack slip home and register it with the website after.

So, I mean, they obviously don't want you to, but yes you can turn to and go if there's availability, it's just a bit of a gamble if there is.

Toomanyapplesinthefruitbowl · 12/09/2020 21:02

@MomToTwoBabas

What a stupid post. Of course you cannot just turn up why would you think you can. Tada here I am! God help us.

I’m not saying it’s the answer for everyone - but it worked for us. I’m a surgeon, for every day that I’m at home isolating because my child has a temperature (she’s a child that always gets a temperature with a cold) and we can’t get tested I can’t operate. So the people who have isolated for 14 days before their operations have to do it all over again because their operation is cancelled. And my children can’t go to school. And my husband can’t work. In an ideal scenario everyone who needs a test would log on to the website and get one. But that isn’t the case right now!! So we pitched up at a test site, the staff were fine about it, we got tested, logged out barcode and got the results. Normal life can resume again...

wafflyversatile · 14/09/2020 02:00

at all the people insisting you can't turn up and get a test you idiots surrounded by posters saying they did just that.

Of course it shouldn't be happening because the booking system should be working properly. But it isn't working properly, same with the rest of the shitshow.

#worldbeating

bumblingbovine49 · 14/09/2020 02:36

The problem is of course that if you do manage to get a test for a family member who had one of the stated symptoms, and it is negative , if anyone in the family develops the same symptoms a couple of days later, you have to do the whole palaver again as there is no way to be sure you have caught the non- covid illness your family member had. You might still in the meantime have caught Covid ( at least theoretically anyway). So you could end up having to do the same thing every few days if several household members catch the same non-Covid illness in succession ( not uncommon )

It is going to be a very long winter

Redwinestillfine · 14/09/2020 04:22

The friend is a red herring. If your child still has a temp, or is coughing lots so for more than an hour or has 3 or more coughing fits in 24 hours or changes to taste and smell then you need to sit next to a computer and keep refreshing until something comes up. If she has no temp and just a bit of a cough she's fine and can go in. Don't get a test because a friend thinks you need one but she doesn't meet the criteria. She does or she doesn't.

Torvean32 · 14/09/2020 04:51

@TeacupDrama

The school can demand a test for her to go back, if she doesn't have covid symptoms she shouldn't have a test and should return to school on Monday

A continuous cough is not the same as an odd cough or a coughing fit because her throat was sore neither is a slightly raised temperature which disappeared in a couple of hours,

It is vaguely possible she has covid but even testing with symptoms 97-99% of all tests are negative depending where you live, so approximately 97% of those with symptoms have a common Cold and 1-3% max have covid

Schools have no right to demand a negative test.

The govt need to make the guidelines more thorough. A one off temperature should not be an automatic test.
They also need to expand on what a continuous cough is. Way too many tests getting done unnecessarily because of this.

TeacupDrama · 14/09/2020 06:37

@Torvean32 bad typo I meant can't demand test that's why I said she should go back to school today if no symptoms as she never had covid symptoms

newlabelwriter · 14/09/2020 06:43

Going totally against what’s being said on
Here, my DH turned up at a resting centre with DC yesterday and was tested straight away, no problem and told test results should be back this morning. We tried the gov website multiple times and got nothing. Checked out our local authority website who said we could use a walk in and did that. It was fine and they didn’t ask for ID (or mention a barcode)

Rubbleonthedouble1 · 14/09/2020 06:49

You could try calling 119. No got a test by constantly checking the site. About four hours of constant checking and I got one. She needs to be tested x

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