To be concerned there are no postal covid tests available now?

[AiryFairyMum]

We have been trying to get a postal test after DC picked up a cough from school. We can't send them back until we get the all-clear (which I understand). I've been trying to get a test for two days, but every time I log on, there are no postal tests and it says all our local testing centres are full. It isn't even giving me an option to travel to a further one, just to come back and re-check later.
This worries me on a wider issue. How are we supposed to know how many people have covid if (I presume) lots of people like us are unable to get tests? How can we trust the figures of new cases if tests are no longer widely available?

They never were widely available. And now people are testing for sore throats and sniffles those actually needing tests can’t get them.

Add in the false positives and the fact that a negative test doesn’t mean you don’t have it and it’s a shit show!

Challenge the school re the need to test. Our headteacher sent this out.

@Feminist10101

The OPs child has a cough. They need to be tested...

Only if it is CONTINUOUS.

This isn’t because it’s being managed with asthma meds!

Sorry - wrong thread.

Still - not every cough meets the criteria.

I’m in exactly the same position. One child with a new persistent cough (and sneezing frequently, no temperature and otherwise perfectly cheerful and well), been trying since yesterday to get a test, absolutely nothing available.

No doubt there are hundreds of not thousands of parents now in exactly the same situation hence the inadequate testing system is unable to cope and that’s after just one week back for English schools. It’s only going to get worse.

School sent DC and several others home. None of the parents can get their kids tested either, so we can't say if the whole bubble needs to isolate. It is a shit show of the government's making.

And yes, I know not every cough meets the criteria, but this one seems to, and we would rather know either way so we can let others we've been in contact know. Is it unreasonable to expect the government to have enough tests after all this time?

I was struggling to get tests last week but I saw on a thread on here that more tests usually become available after 8am. I checked on Friday and I managed to order some home tests. Unfortunately, they didn't arrive until late on Saturday, you can't post them on a Sunday and tomorrow is over 5 days since my DC developed symptoms. Unfortunate timing with it being the weekend for us, but I'd check after 8am tomorrow.