Home testing kits within days.

[NotExactlyHappyToHelp]

apple.news/AgxDFaDblQVmkOUpmI6C3ag

What do we all think? A hugely positive step is my first thought.

This would be great, I still suspect I had it just before christmas as what I had was very severe and was all the symptoms of corona. I'm volunteering but if I knew I'd had it earlier I could do more.

This would be great, I still suspect I had it just before christmas as what I had was very severe and was all the symptoms of corona.

Had you had contact with someone who had recently returned from China before christmas? It's very unlikely that CV was out and about in the UK in December.

I think my teenager has it. Cough, sore throat, temp at night but all very mild. I would really like a home test for him and for me. Then we could help my mum more.

@Lambrini - isn't that what the Oxford study suggested though? That it has been around for much longer than initially realised?

It means that if you've already had it and you can't work, you could volunteer or replace others whilst they are infectious

If this test gets approval next week, I'll certainly be trying to obtain a couple ie one for me - I think I'm getting over it - and one for dw as she's poorly with it now, I suspect. Then I can take a deep breath, phone work (operating theatre) and find out if they need me. For some reason they aren't testing staff (wtf?) so I don't dare go in.

@LambriniSocialist (great username!)

I live in a small town in Scotland which is a stop off point for tours from mainline China, some days our local shops are flooded with chinese tourists so its possible. A lot of people round here were really sick at that time with a nasty virus but do one I know was hospitalised. They only reason I'm doubting it is that if it were coronavirus going about then wouldn't we have seen a spike in hospital admissions?

As @ilovemydog says they are now saying it has probably been going around for much longer then realised. I hope so because if thats the case then the outcome maybe much better than we currently expect!

isn't that what the Oxford study suggested though? That it has been around for much longer than initially realised?

Yes, I think it is. But I still don't understand how, if it was in the UK before Christmas, how we could only be seeing the death rate rising as fast as it is now? It would have spread at the same incredibly fast rate back then as it spreading now, and surely we would already be peaking? We have seen from Patient 1 in Italy that this virus doesn't hang about, once it's out there it spreads very quickly.

NotExactly I like the sound of your Dad

My colleagues & I are still working - one of the exempted workplaces having to stay open and have - very limited - but still some contact with the general public, it’d be hugely comforting if we could test and confirm we have had it ourselves as most of us suspect, so we can feel less anxious about getting it!

That will be the next thing to sell out then. Says a few held back and then available via Boots and Amazon. So I expect some twat will buy 500 and then eBay them.

Plus would you really trust someone? There's a lot riding on being immune.

@LambriniSocialist Could it be because of mutation? Not sure what that means for immunity though?

Apparently it will only work 7-14 days into illness. You need time to build antibodies. Useful to test exposure (very helpful for medical staff and other essential workers) but not as an early diagnostic tool.

Could it be because of mutation? Not sure what that means for immunity though?

Yes, true. I don't know, I'm definitely no scientist! It's all very interesting really isn't it?!

Thanks @TheReelSlimShady - would be great if the articles in guardian could have linked to this to provide some context! I'm wary where there are generic links but not to sources!

you could test negative, all good, then go out and a couple of weeks later contract covid, seems like a waste of timefor the masses and whose to say the virus won't mutate anyway ?

@LambriniSocialist I don't know either, hopefully I'll be able to get my hands on a kit when they come out but obvs key workers need then most!

Does anyone know if you have had it that you can't pass it to others even if you are encountering newly infected people?

Aren’t there cases of reinfection in other countries though? In which case knowing you’ve had it doesn’t mean you can be sure you won’t get it again?

How do they know you can't get it again?

I thought some people had tested positive mega, positive.

I don’t know if it would be worth getting one for myself. I’m over the worst of (what I think was) cv already, but still unwell. I really want to know if it is cv of course, but maybe it would show up negative. It’s the antibody test I’m more impatient for, although this is of course excellent news generally

@Helenj1977 - exactly. And slightly suspicious of the purpose being to, get everyone back to work.

Can someone be tested as having had anti bodies but also capable of spreading it? Can one get it twice, similar to the virus in chicken pox and shingles? What about those with a compromised immune systems?

Also, what pressure will employers place on employees who are reluctant to take the test?

IF this turns out to be true and reliable

Then I don't understand the idea of selling them on Amazon and the High Street.

There will be immediately be a black market and real (and fake) tests will be bought by people able to pay the most.

It is of course essential that front-line workers at most risk in combatting the disease must be tested first. If we can identify people with immunity, then we should not be putting others at greatest risk of infection.

It makes no sense.

Government says the tests aren't imminent at the moment.

So the imminent tests aren't so imminent after all!! Once again politicians talking bollocks!

or was it the media, and people on the 'net?

Useful summary of testing, from a generally decent source
www.newscientist.com/article/2238477-how-does-coronavirus-testing-work-and-will-we-have-a-home-test-soon/