To think if you can stand in a queue for 5 hours, you’re not ill

[TheMurk]

Five hour queue for Covid testing in Bury yesterday, as pictured in various newspapers.

Now, when I’ve been ill before with various Illnesses and viruses (flu, noro, mumps, bronchitis etc, remember them?) I’ve been in no position to go anywhere but my bed.

When I say ill, I mean suffering the generally expected effects of whatever virus it is, to such an extent that it disrupts my daily routine and requires rest, fluids and medications. Not so Ill that I’m in any danger, or need to go to hospital. But ill that is noticeable to those around me. Needed time off work, that sort of thing.

It’s by the by that in none of these instances I required any sort of test to establish what was making me ill - it was plainly obvious by the symptoms.

But supposing I had a virus so unique and potentially deadly that required a test and subsequent isolation measures, let me tell you now I would have been in no shape to drive, walk or bus it anywhere, stand in any sort of queue for even a short period, attend a test that is uncomfortable and then get myself home.

Especially if the virus is SO CONTAGIOUS that in the rest of the public domain you must wear a mask, stay 2 m away from everyone else and you can’t even touch so much as a library book for fear of being overwhelmed and struck down by this virus.

I mean, who are these people getting tested?

And if they’re well enough to stand in a five hour queue, they are far from a hospital admission - so why are all our lives on hold for this?

Bonkers.

Typhoid Mary had no symptoms but killed people in at least 5 different homes before she was identified and tested as the link.

When released from detainment she continued with her poor hygiene practices and caused more deaths. @TheMurk you're attitude marries up woth Typhoid Mary. It didn't harm her and she didn't understand why there was such a fuss.

I'm grateful that these people are queuing to be tested for a virus that can literally kill and disable others because they've had a key symptom or been contacted by track and trace.

They are being mindful of the rest of the population and doing the right thing.

That the queue is 5 hours long is a fucking disgrace on the government though. This is not something that crept up on us, it's been around all year and they should have testing down to a fine art by now.

*your fucking autocorrect

There are a lot of people at the moment having to suffer the inconvenience of being tested because they or their children had coughed or shown some small symptom and then are sent home and can't return to work or school until they either had a negative test or have isolated themselves.

I would say probably 99% of that queue know they don't need to be there but are forced to be tested because of current circumstances and rules.

The more we get into winter and winter illnesses the more it will happen and the longer the queues will get.

OK, so you're a COVID denier. We get it - it's just a cold, we're making a big fuss over nothing and doctors are all lazy arses who are taking this as an excuse to do nothing and get paid for it.

Meanwhile in my NHS Trust, our beds are full, our doctors and nurses are working all the hours seeing patients and hacking into the backlog that built up over the spring and we're all shattered - and winter is coming. We are seeing people with Long COVID coming through - previously fit, healthy people who had this little virus and now have severe respiratory, cardiac and neurological symptoms.

So we'd quite like people to get tested. We agree with you that this government has handled it appallingly badly - home testing should always have been the main focus - but we do want people to get tested and we do want people who have it but have no symptoms to not run around infecting people.

This NHS worker thanks you for your time.

It's deadliness is complex. For many people it isn't. But for some it is. And hard to know which.

That's why we get tested even if not very badly affected ourselves.

Struggling to see your point OP.

But this applies to any virus.

@MrsStefani I have legacy damage from having mumps as an adult. I was hospitalised at the time for 6 weeks. I am now deaf in one ear and had a parotid gland removed.

Not sure what your point is.

Only Covid matters it seems.

How long do we keep up the snaking queues?

@Flamingolingo

I’d say a 5 hour queue with other people who may have Covid is a really great way to catch it even if you don’t already have it...

I thought this as well. Sounds as if we now have a lot more tests than facilities when it was the other way around a couple of months ago.

Yes, mumps is awful, that's why there's a vaccine for it.

Covid is so new, we still have no idea what it is truly capable of. And we have nothing to fight it yet. It's super contagious and can cause a lot of damage to otherwise healthy people. The fact that it's mild/asymptomatic for some is actually a bad thing as that encourages complacency which then encourages more spreading.

@MrsStefani

Yes, mumps is awful, that's why there's a vaccine for it.

Covid is so new, we still have no idea what it is truly capable of. And we have nothing to fight it yet. It's super contagious and can cause a lot of damage to otherwise healthy people. The fact that it's mild/asymptomatic for some is actually a bad thing as that encourages complacency which then encourages more spreading.

Had the vaccine.

Still got it.

I still stand by my point, we need to do everything we can to stop the spread of a dangerous virus?! if it was a super contagious mumps-19 resurgence, I would be saying the same thing?!

I’d say a 5 hour queue with other people who may have Covid is a really great way to catch it even if you don’t already have it

Herd immunity by stealth

@MrsGradyOldLady

I had to get tested yesterday. I don't feel unwell but I have a cough and sore throat so I followed ths government advice. Do you not agree with the government advice?

Well perhaps you could lobby your mp or start a petition on Facebook rather than moan about people who are literally doing as they've been told?

Had the vaccine.

Still got it.

Are you really so intellectually limited that you do not understand how vaccines work? OK, so the mumps vaccine didn't work for you. It does work for the absolute vast majority of the people who have it, and in doing so it stops mumps from spreading because there are not enough susceptible hosts for the virus. Once we have a COVID vaccine, it will be much the same - it won't be perfect and we all know that flu vaccines aren't perfect, but it will reduce the number of virus hosts and so curtail the spread, which means life can start going back to some form of normal.

If you don't get this, you are part of the problem - and we need better science teaching in UK schools.

"C) arrange a test for him and return to work and school as soon as we got a negative result (or self isolate for good reason if the result was positive)?
We chose C and were lucky to get a drive through test 30 minutes drive away. I’d have driven further or stood in an outdoor, socially distanced queue if that’s what it took to get the test done.
The criteria leave a lot of people with very little choice but to queue if they’re trying to behave responsibly."

What??
Aren't you supposed to self-isolate even if the test is negative? He could have been incubating it. Are you sure you've followed the law/guidelines on this?

Covid is not “super contagious”.

It really isn’t.

In the entirety of 2020 if it was “super contagious” we would have epic spread through supermarket workers, warehouse workers, care professions, police, firefighters, ambulance, sex workers...

None of these industries has been struck down to the extent of curtailing their abilities to provide their services.

If it was “super contagious” there would be bio hazard bins for used masks and gloves, cloth masks simply wouldn’t be allowed, queuing would be ridiculous, eating open mouthed and freely in cafes and restaurants would be insanity, using any public toilet would be a death sentence, planes would be grounded and borders shut.

It’s no more contagious than any other virus.

It’s as survivable as any other virus.

Why are asymptomatic people being made to queue for hours for a test under fear of their jobs or livelihoods?

"I’d say a 5 hour queue with other people who may have Covid is a really great way to catch it even if you don’t already have it"

Depends if the queue is inside or outside.

But people need to get tested BEFORE they get to the stage where they can't function. If you're going to work with mild symptoms of undiagnosed Covid then you're spreading the virus.

"It’s no more contagious than any other virus."

Scientists tell us it's 3 times more contagious than flu. How do you know better?

"Had the vaccine.

Still got it."
Which can happen with most jabs as they are not 100% effective but clearly mump deaths/illnessess matters ( despite your assertions otherwise) as the government and NHS do what they can to protect people from it.

Very very few people get tb, mumps rubella etc either these days. Shall we stop giving the vaccines? After all almost no one dies from them and the NHS is not being overwhelmed with tb patients, is it?

@pointythings my point is viruses can be mild or serious, viruses spread, vaccines don’t always work, all of these things apply to ANY virus. Calling me thick and questioning my education doesn’t change these facts.

@Gwenhwyfar

"C) arrange a test for him and return to work and school as soon as we got a negative result (or self isolate for good reason if the result was positive)? We chose C and were lucky to get a drive through test 30 minutes drive away. I’d have driven further or stood in an outdoor, socially distanced queue if that’s what it took to get the test done. The criteria leave a lot of people with very little choice but to queue if they’re trying to behave responsibly."

What??
Aren't you supposed to self-isolate even if the test is negative? He could have been incubating it. Are you sure you've followed the law/guidelines on this?

My work insists we go back in with a negative, no self isolating needed. I didn't think you had to.

Just found the government guidance:

*Do I need to keep self-isolating if I have received a negative COVID-19 test result?
If you and your household are isolating because you are experiencing coronavirus symptoms, you and your household are able to end self-isolation early if you receive a negative test.

However, if you are isolating because you live with someone who has symptoms, you must continue to isolate for 14 days even if you receive a negative test. You may only end isolation early if the person with symptoms in your household receives a negative test.

If you are isolating because you have been contacted by NHS Test and Trace or because you are required to under public health measures at the border, you must continue to isolate for 14 days even if you receive a negative test*

Some people have only very mild symptoms like half of my NHS colleagues who have tested positive yet feel fine.
But we cannot go to work if we are suspected of having it as we could kill someone with no immune system.
One of my friends had it and the only symptom she had was a temporary loss of smell.
Obviously if you are floored by your symptoms and really ill you are not going to queue for 5 hours.

TheMurk (and may I say what an apt choice of name that is?) I get your point. You think COVID is just like any other virus and so we shouldn't do anything different. This misses the point completely - COVID is NEW. We haven't seen it before. We started out knowing nothing about it. So as countries, we responded in a variety of ways, some good and some less good.

But if we had just shrugged our shoulders, not locked down, done nothing, our death rate would have been far, far higher. The NHS would have been swamped.

We know a lot more now than we did 6 months ago and hopefully we will get a vaccine that helps reduce the spread. I sincerely hope that uptake will be high, and that if it isn't, the refusers will stop bloody moaning about how their lives have been affected. Meanwhile let's by all means point out how badly our government have handled this pandemic - they should be held to account. But COVID denial is both dangerous and stupid.

I get what you're saying OP.

The reality of how we're all having to live and behave doesn't ad up with the rhetoric.

Me - ''In 2020 there was a 'deadly' virus Grandson! It was highly contagious and whole countries economies were ruined because of it''.

GS - ''Wow how on earth did you survive?''

Me - ''Well, we wore little paper masks but only in Tesco, and if you thought you might have got it you went and got tested. Had to stand about in a queue for hours chatting with everyone else, but it was ok. The government spent 500 million on letting everyone go out and have half price meals out, but lots of people weren't allowed to go to work. You couldn't all go and visit your nan all together unless you were all down the pub ...''

GD - ''Right ..... and you say it was a deadly, virus?