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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Original poster

AIBU to tell you how shambolic my experience has been trying to get a covid test...

200 replies

Shiningstar84 · 13/09/2020 21:43

I'm a teacher and have been back in work around 3 weeks. I've come down with a heavy cold and a cough. Been off since Wednesday
Timeline is as follows:
Tuesday night- Tried to get a test- none available
Wednesday - Got a test local to me- just 6 miles according to the booking. Went to the test site, the main and only road to it completely closed off with signs and cones not letting me past. Tried calling the 'help'line- hour on the phone and missed my appointment.
Thursday- Nearest test site 100 miles away but miraculously got a home test kit booked at 8am- horray
Friday- Home test kit showed at 5pm- after the last post of the day near me
Saturday- Got up early to register the test, take the test and get it to the post office. Registration kept coming up as an error online- lots of people reporting the same, the site is completely down and not working. I missed the last post of the day
Sunday- can't do home test as no post, and it would be null and void as over 4 days since symptoms started. Managed to get a test 40 miles away at 7.30pm

Now I wait for results which could be 48hours. I've already lost precious teaching time with my a-level students and although I've been teaching remotely it just isn't the same. I also have my toddler son at home with me as I obviously can't send him back to nursery- making teaching very difficult.
It's September FFS and these are the issues I and many others are having.

OP posts:
Matilda400 · 13/09/2020 22:14

@user1494055864 You just made a right tit of yourself hahahaha

Janleverton · 13/09/2020 22:15

@user1494055864

YABVU A heavy cold is not a coronavirus symptom. You are part if the problem of why people with actual symptoms cannot get a test Hmm
But the point is she has a cough. Yes, she probably just has a cold, but kids are being sent home, with their bubbles, and teachers kept off because a cough is one of the three symptoms. Of course a cough can also be symptomatic of a cold, just like a temperature can be symptomatic of an ear infection. The advice is simply that if you have any of the 3 symptoms, you self isolate and get a test.
lioncitygirl · 13/09/2020 22:16

I mean my experience:

Experienced symptoms Monday morning - tested Monday afternoon and results back Tuesday noon.

Original poster
Shiningstar84 · 13/09/2020 22:17

@lioncitygirl That's amazing!! I know some have had good experiences but it seems to me that you have to be pretty lucky to have had that.

OP posts:
chomalungma · 13/09/2020 22:20

Apparently the 'median' distance travelled is 6.2 miles to get a test (of all those who got a test)

No information on how many people have been unable to get a test - and no information on how the range of distances people have had to travel, including the percentiles on distance travelled.

And if you don't have your own transport, or if you feel unwell, then that just makes getting a test much more difficult.

Saitama · 13/09/2020 22:21

Last week my husband got a test, booked it for the next day and got results the day after. Very smooth and easy. I guess it’s dependant on location though, but at least it does seem to work in some areas

chomalungma · 13/09/2020 22:22

Apparently the service is very busy

AIBU to tell you how shambolic my experience has been trying to get a covid test...
crackofdoom · 13/09/2020 22:23

Let's face it, the government or whichever private company is running this system, didn't adequately prepare enough tests in preparation for schools and unis going back- in fact I bet it didn't even enter their tiny minds to increase testing capacity. Oh and the labs are also so overworked they are now sending results to Italy and Germany too- great!

Apparently the Government dismantled the country's network of public health labs some years ago Hmm

Janleverton · 13/09/2020 22:23

Oh and don’t worry, because the government have apparently totally provided enough support to schools. I heard of R4 a secondary head teacher saying each school has been sent TEN emergency tests that they can use. Secondary schools round here have about 1800+ pupils. Ten tests won’t touch the sides...

And meanwhile I have a friend whose son has a cough. Her older daughter is due to sit her A level mocks next week (and we all know how important mocks are now). She has been trying since Thursday to get him a test, to no avail, and unless he is tested tomorrow he will be out of the window for the test and just stuck in 14 day self isolation, along with her Dd. And their father is in hospital with chemotherapy complications.

She’s forked out about £290 for a courier to come tomorrow with a test and to wait while it’s done and then drive it to the private lab.

Fortunately she is retired so won’t be missing out on salary but as a pp said, if you’re on a zero hours contract and suddenly faced with 2 weeks with no pay, the situation is dire. And it becomes understandably tempting to minimise the child’s symptoms, which just increases the likelihood of COVID being spread at school.

The system is shambolic.

Original poster
Shiningstar84 · 13/09/2020 22:23

Totally @chomalungma
I'd like to know how many have had errors registering their home test kits too. I know of at least 5 people.
My experience may not be particularly typical as I do think I've had a bit of bad luck too- but this system is still so flawed. The fact I ordered my kit at 8am Thursday should have meant it came Friday morning- it's delivered through Amazon, but nope it was stuck at the depot for 6 hours (according to tracking). It says you have to do the home-kit within 4 days of developing symptoms- bit pointless if it takes ages to be delivered.

OP posts:
Original poster
Shiningstar84 · 13/09/2020 22:26

@Janleverton That's terrible! All that stress and worry for what? It's not good enough. They (being the crappy government) were very quick to reassure (through news/media propaganda shite) that the schools were 'safe' and they were prepared. It's not half way through September and look! God help us the rest of the year.
I feel depressed- I wish I drank alcohol!

OP posts:
Lougle · 13/09/2020 22:30

@Shiningstar84 are they not collecting test kits now? When I had a home test kit, it came via Amazon and then it was returned via courier. It still had a Royal Mail sticker on it, but it was a courier driver who picked it up.

Original poster
Shiningstar84 · 13/09/2020 22:32

@lougle Not mine- think it has all changed now to priority postboxes. The courier option is there if you're too ill etc. but you'd need to call the number - the number that's totally jammed and I was on hold to for an hour.

OP posts:
JJsDinerWaffles · 13/09/2020 22:33

My friend did a 5 hour round trip yesterday to get a test for her daughter. Absolute shambles.

Original poster
Shiningstar84 · 13/09/2020 22:36

@JJsDinerWaffles wow fair play to her- that's committed. No-one should have to do that though :( Especially because majority doing the tests are doing them because they feel unwell- 5 hours in a car can't have helped with that.

OP posts:
JJsDinerWaffles · 13/09/2020 22:39

Exactly! She had a raging temp but I guess they needed the test for school... there were local testing sites but no appointments or anything.

As she pointed out, people will end up deciding not to bother and just risking it...

mumwon · 13/09/2020 22:41

when ever I hear of people doing these long journeys for testing \i wonder how they manage without - er - stopping to use facilities - unless everybody that is forced to do this is free weeing?

whydoIhavetodoeverything · 13/09/2020 22:44

11 days from ordering test to getting results, gave up self isolating after a couple of days

ladycarlotta · 13/09/2020 22:44

@user1494055864

YABVU A heavy cold is not a coronavirus symptom. You are part if the problem of why people with actual symptoms cannot get a test Hmm
A cough is a symptom. And we do actually need to assume that every covid-type symptom could very well BE covid - that's the only way the system is going to work.

My daughter has what I'm 99% certain is a cold with a bit of a cough, but nursery have said she cannot come back in until she has a negative test. So in their opinion then yes, she does have covid symptoms and they are not a waste of a test. They are what the tests are FOR.

It's insanely inconvenient - it took us days to even find a test, and then it was a 3-hour round trip as our local testing centre was booked up. Not much fun with an 18mo. We still haven't received our results so it looks like we are all isolating tomorrow - partner can't go to his frontline NHS job, kid can't go to nursery, I have to cancel a day's meeting with people travelling in from various parts of the country. I could make all that go away if I decided my daughter's symptoms were definitely not covid and turned up to the meeting anyway, but that would be unbelievably irresponsible. The system is fucked. There need to be enough tests so that every member of a household can get results in situations like this, or the whole exercise is futile.

Polnm · 13/09/2020 22:46

If you are a teacher then haven’t you been given details of somewhere you can go? isn’t that national ?

bookishtartlet · 13/09/2020 22:49

I'm in Scotland. Logged on at 730pm to get a test, have one booked for tomorrow morning 4 miles away. Interesting to see the various experiences.

Eng123 · 13/09/2020 22:49

Sorry to hear you're having a tough time. Agree that the system is failing. I've just had a 300mile round trip, road closures made it 10hrs! Dominic Cummings will provide a body or two I've no doubt...

Feelingconfused2020 · 13/09/2020 22:54

If you are a teacher then haven’t you been given details of somewhere you can go? isn’t that national ?

No, it really isn't.

CoffeeandCroissant · 13/09/2020 22:59

If you are on twitter send a tweet to Stella Creasy MP as she is asking a question about testing in parliament tomorrow I think.
mobile.twitter.com/stellacreasy/status/1305222811997417474

(Doesn't matter that she is not your MP as it's a nationwide issue and she will be asking about testing problems in general).

CoffeeandCroissant · 13/09/2020 23:02

Sorry, should have said she hopes to ask Matt Hancock specifically, so that the issue gets raised and she / we get an answer.

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