What's the point of testing NHS staff for coronavirus?

[Tonyaster]

Surely if they are clear they could then catch it that day? Are they planning to test them every single day?

It's so those self isolating with symptoms can come back to work if they're negative.

They’re testing staff who have symptoms / their family members who have symptoms. We have so many people of isolating that this is the most effective method of having fewer staff off to keep the services continuing.

But surely if they are ill, but negative for cv, they could just catch it the following day?

Yes but to be blunt, the small chance of them catching it the next day is better then them sitting at home if they don’t have it.

It seems expensive. The antibody test has to be a better use of funds, surely?

(Love the NHS doctors, nurses and staff and am in awe of what they do. Obviously don’t want anyone to get it! Just trying to explain the logic behind the testing.)

Yes, but they don't have it that day. We had a bad cold/flu symptoms if we tested negative we could still work. Some countries tested frontline workers every day. Plus the antibody test will confirm who has had it and therefore less likely to get it again.

Are you serious or is this some kind of wind up?

I think there are a lot of NHS staff having to isolate at home, sometimes due to other family member's symptoms, rather than their own, so testing those people would help to enable them to return to work - providing they have a negative result obvs.

Given that someone could be asymptomatic for a few days, but still have it, it would be helpful to know if a front line member of staff was positive sooner, rather than later, so they potentially pass it on to as few colleagues and family members as possible.They could begin their social isolation period ASAP.

And, at least they would have a base line to start with.

Currently, they have no idea how many staff actually have it.

The antibody test is not yet available.

That’s a fuck ton of working hours to be lost whilst we wait for it.

No totally serious! To make the test useful, they'd have to test everyone every single day, surely? So Anna is off with a cough, she has the test,nits negative, she goes to work and contracts CV but is asymptomatic and continues to work and spread the virus.

What’s the point in testing anyone? As you say they could get poorly the next day?

We have to go to work every day with little to no ppe. The people walking around buying groceries are wearing masks and gloves. We are instructed not to wear them yet.
We get symptoms and have to stay at home for two weeks. We could be working.

But we might get it the next day or the day after that or the day after that.

Paying a band 5 nurse or a band 9 consultant to stay at home for 14 days unnecessarily is a lot more expensive than testing them or the family member showing symptoms

Are you sure you're not on a wind up?

I can see we want NHS staff back out working. But all the test proves is that they don't have cv that day.

My theory, based on NOTHING before the opinion police pitch up, is that the Gov have been slow to roll out mass testing as they're bricking it with regard to what they will do if huge numbers of NHS staff have a positive result.

I think they think its better to invest time and money in the anti body test.

Also from what I’ve read it takes 28 days from infection to the antibodies being detectable.. antibodies show that a person has been infected and their immune system has made antibodies to fight the virus, it doesn’t give any information about the persons current status. 28 days is a long time right now.

Yes that is a long time.

In Singapore shops etc have scanners that take your temperature before you can go in.

The test simply says there is a 70% chance they don’t have it that day. But the balance of risk is felt to favour saying people can then go back to work until they or someone else at home develop symptoms again.

The antibody test is likely to be weeks to months away and early prototypes have been piss poor (the swab is barely better than flipping a coin).

Also we don’t yet have evidence that people develop decent immunity to this virus, whilst having good evidence that people don’t develop decent immunity to other very similar viruses and can catch them again within weeks to months.

Yes I just said the same thing to DH.

I wonder how accurate the tests are? Does anyone know?

In Singapore shops etc have scanners that take your temperature before you can go in.

Uh huh. And it’s possible to have an elevated temp for reasons that are nothing to do with covid. If a nurse had a temp, they’d be off for 14 days. Or they can test on day 1, find out the temp was unrelated to covid because the test came back negative and the nurse could get back to work instead of having to take 14 days off at that time.

Not everyone gets a temperature with Coronavirus. So testing temperatures is meaningless.

I posted about the very same thing earlier today.

If they test (for example) a nurse on Monday and she is negative, by the end of her shift on Tuesday she could have caught it. So unless they test EVERY frontline NHS worker EVERY day, I can’t see how it would help.

Not convinced that testing NHS staff will be of any practical value in flattening out the curve. Assuming that the swab tests are accurate, all they give us is a snapshot of the status of the person at the time the test was taken. It does not guarantee that they won't become infected shortly afterwards and spread the disease around the wards.