Think I may have coronavirus but 111 won't test

[Bolsover]

I have been ill the last few days with high temperature and dry cough - nothing too serious and getting better now. However I thought it was possible that this could be a v mild form of coronavirus?
I rang 111 and they won't test as I haven't travelled recently or been in contact with someone confirmed to have it. However I work in London and travel on tubes/bus everyday? It's entirely possible that I've picked it up randomly?

It probably isn't coronavirus but I'm really surprised about lack of testing? My dh and dc will go off to work/school tomorrow when maybe they should be self-isolating? It seems inevitable that it will spread rapidly if they don't test people with symptoms regardless of whether they've been travelling etc?.

There isn't the resource to test everyone they have to prioritise the most likely cases.

There are 29 confirmed cases in London and the population is about 8 million. The risk of you having it is very low. They can't test everyone.

111 will be getting hundreds of calls each day. They can't test everyone.

I suppose they can't test everyone, so presently limiting it to people who have travelled or known contacts .
However, in my city a person was confirmed as having it and there is no traceable contact or history of recent travel.
As things progress, they will have to start testing people who do not meet this criteria and who are symptomatic.
There is evidence of the start of community .
Glad you're feeling better, but theres every likelihood you have covid-19, as most people will get a mild to moderate dose .

Community spread

There will be way more people in the U.K. with Coronavirus than officially reported due to the lack of testing. People are only being tested if they have symptoms, have been in contact with an affected person or have travelled from an infected area.

If they had the lab time, they wouid be testing more.

Info about level of community spread will be really useful to researchers. But lab time will be assigned to the highest risk cases (symptomatic, plausible exposure) as part of containment/delay.

There are however a number of sentinel GP practices, where all patients with any matching symptoms will be tested, which does give info on spread.

I hope you feel better soon. Maintain hygiene, stay away from others, ring 111 again if you are worried because you have underlying health concerns or need medical attention, get well soon. We need to slow the spread of this by caring for ourselves at home and each spreading it to as few people as possible to help the hospitals cope.

You might have had it you might not. At some point they will stop testing and rely on clinical diagnosis because in reality if 80% of the population get it the logistics of testing everyone become silly.
That said, I do think that will mean an over estimate of cases as at my DCs school before Christmas we had 30% of the school off at a time because the children all had a strange bug which started with a fever, then a sore throat then a cough. Coronavirus hadn't emerged then, if that had happened last week we would have thought they all had it.

111 will be dealing with many thousands of calls about this, they deal with thousands upon thousands of calls a day in normal circumstances, that number will have rocketed during this flu season.

It’s like asking them to test everyone for the common cold after all lots die of the common cold every year...and believe me there are people everyday demanding treatment and emergency Drs appointments from 111 for the common cold when there is no threat of pandemic.

I feel very very sorry for those working the 111 helpline, they will be inundated with ridiculous people and their demands for the entirety of their shifts constantly over and above the usual ridiculous people and their demands.

I’ve just been unwell with odd exhaustion temperature puffy eyes type ‘thing’ for 4 days. Friends were suggesting I call 111 or ‘go to gp’. I absolutely didn’t as had no dry cough and temperature wasn’t worrying. Had also no known recent hotspot contact.
Self isolated myself anyway in excess of caution.
Now feeling better. We can’t all be tested - there has to be prioritisation.

If you're already feeling better I doubt it's the corona. 111 have strict guidelines so if they believed for a second it was you would be tested. There are so many people taking this as the apocalypse that they sneeze and decide they have it. Simply put they do not have the resources or manpower to test all who want the test for peace of mind. They are working around the clock as it is.

Fully agree.

I had a temperature for nearly 2 weeks and now a very bad cough, which became much worse after the temperature came down (I still have a slight temperature at times). My DD2 (7) then caught it and had a very high temperature and cough (and a very bad headache) for 3 days, which has now cleared up. She hasn't had anything like it in a very long time.

They won't test us, and I really hope it isn't going to turn out to have been COVID-19, as DD2 was in school before she went down with whatever it was. And there are many other cases like ours that have been mentioned on here.

I find it hard to believe that none of these cases are COVID-19. I think they are going to have to extend the testing soon.

TBH, I reckon they'll stop testing as the epidemic grows. There's no point once a lot of people have it, and maybe best only to test people who are hospitalised. Where do you draw the line? There's limited capacity in labs as they're the same labs as are doing the myriad of other tests that come in every day. There must come a point where they just can't do any more.

This virus, like most viruses, will infect far more people than will ever display symptoms- 75% of people infected with flu have no symptoms. There's nothing to be gained by testing people with minor symptoms who are recovering. Community transmission is inevitable.

The Government isn't going to follow Italy and quarantine millions, close schools, shut down public transport. There'll be some gestures that have no or limited economic impact, like cancelling sporting events and encouraging people who already work from home to do more of that, but that'll be it.

Moreover, because the government can't answer the sticky questions about sick pay / disciplinary procedures for people off sick vs self-isolating; stockpiling; staff shortages in NHS and all the rest of it, the comms narrative will start to change. We'll hear less about numbers, threat will be played down and it will fade into the background over the summer. Once there's a vaccine, it'll be just another flu.

My son is 16 and has a fever for the last three days, a slight cough and sore throat.
He told me today that his chest hurts.
I’ve been round the nhs 111 loop and recognise that he won’t get tested.
I have no idea what to do: it doesn’t worry me personally but his dad has asthma and is over 55yrs old.
Just sitting and waiting it out

DD has been very poorly for two weeks.
It started as possible mumps, high temp, swollen face, glands, which moved to an awful dry cough which has lasted 10 days.
Has been tested for mumps, but we don't have the results yet.
At no point have I seriously thought she has covid19, but it has made us wonder.
The criteria for testing is a little baffling as time goes on, as there are some untraceable cases.

We'll never know I guess.

They wouldn’t even test people returning from Asia last month with symptoms!
I’d assume you might have it and self quarantine let people around to know to stay safe.
I would assume by now every handle on the tube is infected.

That's nonsense. Asia is enormous and wuhan and China are part of Asia and you would have certainly been tested if returning from wuhan or from other areas of China and symptomatic. I really wouldn't assume every handle in the tube is infested with coronavirus - assume its dirty, sure, but wouldn't you assume that anyway?

I was ill starting last week, high fever, sore throat which resulted in me losing my voice, dry cough and ear pain and swollen glands, and a very sore chest and tightness. I'm asthmatic, and when my DH called the doctors about it as he was worried about my chest pain, I was told to see the locum and was diagnosed with tonsillitis which had spread to my chest/sinus, and given ten days antibiotics.
Was asked while there if I had travelled and because I hadn't was told they wouldn't test for coronavirus or even consider it a possibility.. although in past two weeks I've had to travel around the UK and been to conferences -.-
With antibiotics, cold and flu tablets and cough medicine and lots of lemon tea with honey I feel mostly human again, thankfully, but still keeping a eye on my chest due to having health conditions which mean I have to be wary of potential complications, but hopefully the antibiotics will prevent any possibility of developing into pneumonia (as I dont understand why else I was given them as antibiotics arent needed for tonsilitis).

There will be way more people in the U.K. with Coronavirus than officially reported due to the lack of testing. People are only being tested if they have symptoms, have been in contact with an affected person or have travelled from an infected area

I'm not sure that you're right,the rate of positive tests for people who have a reason to be tested is currently very low, why would it be higher if they tested people who have no risk factors?

"111 have strict guidelines so if they believed for a second it was you would be tested."

111 are declining to test people whom actual doctors (GPs etc) believe have covid 19 due to the protocols about travel. So, no, we are not catching all cases and the 111 algorithms are intentionally overly restrictive due to lack of testing capacity. It does not mean that the algorithms are correct in epidemiological terms as they largely miss community spread and new emerging hotspots.

They can’t test anyone who had a cold. They simply don’t have the resources they have to prioritise those who have travelled or been in contact with someone who has travelled to an affected area.

Be realistic. You likely have a cold. Try and stay home if possible and practice basic hygiene.

Both my teenage dd and ds are ill. They have a mild temperature and aching bones. My dd is complaining of an uncomfortable sensation in her chest. I spoke to 111 today and they told me to contact GP within 24 hours and monitor them during the night.

When I asked them if DH and I should carry on as normal they said yes. DH is going to work from home tomorrow and deal with the doctor etc - he thinks I should go into work. I am not sure if this is the right thing to do - I know it is unlikely, but what if they had it? I work in a school.

Interesting as DS2 is also sick with a heavy cold, fever and complaining about weird feeling in chest.