Zoe app

[pushananas]

Does the app ever tell you if you should get a test ? How does it tell you ?

Oh yes true, I hadn’t thought of bots. I’m not really sure why someone would want to go to the trouble of setting up a bot to do this though.

I haven’t been asked but friends have.
I figure it also helps to feed all sorts of information relating to areas and other virus’s circulating.

Mine has asked me to get one this week as I have a blocked nose.
Unfortunately my area has run out of postal tests and my nearest drive through site with available tests is 35 miles away.

@Augustbreeze

It doesn't take up capacity which the NHS needs for normal testing: they have a deal with Zoe to provide test capacity for their users in return for extremely useful evidence and research about symptoms

Really? The email I got from Zoe yesterday just directed me to the gov.uk website to get a test, the same as when you book one normally. It said there were non available.

I was also direct to the gov.uk website. I didn’t do the test as I knew it would be negative and did not want to take up capacity.

Only some parts of the U.K. are participating so that may be why?

@Egghead68

I was also direct to the gov.uk website. I didn’t do the test as I knew it would be negative and did not want to take up capacity.

I’ve just tried again (I’ve had three emails from Zoe asking me to test based on the blocked nose) and there are postal tests available now. Not sure whether to do it as 1) it’s 99.9% likely to be negative and 2) as they’ve had non available for the past 2 days they’re obviously struggling with capacity. It’s definitely just the normal gov.uk website they’re asking me to test through, not a Zoe specific site.

Yes you do book through the NHS website, the Zoe email tells you what category you need to request your test under.

Whether it's all been affected by the national general testing capacity problems reported recently, goodness knows.....

If so I imagine Zoe will be reporting on, and telling users what to do about, it very shortly.

Sorry that may not be much help.

I report any feelings off being unwell. That’s how they are discovering the way the virus presents to people. It’s gone beyond the 3 initial symptoms now. That’s how they added taste and smell to the list.

@Alex50

Most people probably wouldn’t but if you don’t know who’s adding reliable details how do you know there not?

Well out of the over 4 million people using it I’d say not enough to skew it. Even if I was wearing a tinfoil hat....

I’ve been asked to go for one today as I reported having a headache most of yesterday and was tired. I’m pregnant so am constantly tired especially with a toddler.

No home tests available and nearest drive through it is showing me is 70 miles away so, as much as I’d like to help the research, I’m not going. If I felt like I had a symptom of Covid then I’d definitely go but I’m pretty sure my headache was due to lack of sleep from intense heartburn!

I’m not convinced all this testing research on unusual symptoms should be going on, if people with barn door very obvious symptoms can’t access a test.

The invitations for tests are so they can verify the hypotheses they are testing. There is an algorithm which is declared on their website. I think it's a test is suggested if you've had no symptoms for the previous 9 days and then report a change.
They are nowt to do with availability of testing facilities. However those that have been tested and report back To them have allowed lots of hypotheses to be tested. It was they that established the loss of smell added as a key indicator

I was asked to test after reporting an upset stomach. I did the test because I felt it was important for research into other symptoms. I didn’t think I had the virus and it was negative.

But how does the app actually know they have had a test? When you have a test in the UK you have to give your date of birth, address, NI number, NHS number so they know exactly who’s being tested, the Zoe app has no idea who you are or whether you’ve actually had a test, it’s not reliable data. It obviously gives a rough guide and is probably about 70% correct at a guess. Unless I have got how you login to the Zoe App wrong?

Alex50, you report the test back to Zoe via the app. It asks you if you've had a test and, if so, date, type of test, and result. So, for example, I was ill 3 or 4 weeks ago. The app knows exactly which days I had which symptoms, which day I had a test and that it came back negative, because I entered all that information.

Yes, like any research that relies on self-reporting, it's only as reliable as the information people give. But I suspect only a very small proportion of the people who, like me, are spending 30 seconds a day entering how they feel are deliberately punking the app.

@Lemons1571

I’m not convinced all this testing research on unusual symptoms should be going on, if people with barn door very obvious symptoms can’t access a test.

Yes this is the problem. I have been asked to test as I have a blocked nose... nothing else. I have already had Covid. People in my area are struggling to get tested for the three major symptoms, and it took 2 days after Zoe asked me to test before any availability came up on the gov.uk website. Should I be taking up a test which is almost guaranteed to be negative, when people with the major symptoms are struggling to access one?

I've had three requests via Zoe, Dh nine and dd none. I'm the only one who has ever had a reason to put 'not feeling fine' though none of the three main symptoms.

I was ill at the very start of April. The app had just launched and tests weren't offered then.

And if you don’t have a test does it have your symptoms as Covid or suspected Covid?

@Alex50

And if you don’t have a test does it have your symptoms as Covid or suspected Covid?

What do you mean by 'have your symptoms'? They have the symptoms you report (e.g. runny nose, stinging eyes). If you don't then go on to test there will be no confirmation either way as to whether it was Covid or not, so I doubt there'd be any assumptions that it was Covid.

@Kaktus I sympathise with your dilemma. On paper it’s just as important to catch cases that are very mild or asymptomatic to reduce the spread; however in reality if tests are limited then it becomes more difficult.

Logically the Zoe app has been allocated a number of tests to distribute as they see fit because what they’re doing has proved itself valuable so I would say that if you can book in do so but maybe avoid the allocation release times (people seem to have worked these out if you ask about on here) to allow others first dibs?

I would definitely email the Zoe app and make them aware of the problems you’re having. This is basically what they’re all about and adds to the data they present to government and their advisories.

@Alex50

And if you don’t have a test does it have your symptoms as Covid or suspected Covid?

I believe if you report the main/classical symptoms your counted as symptomatic (not proven) covid. That’s how they originally set it up since the testing criteria when they started was so restricted.

Cornetto

I wonder if I was recorded as symptomatic?

I had an extremely high temperature for several days and was in bed for 5 days from April 1.

My symptoms were very much like tonsilitis. Trouble is, as tests weren't offered (and as my son had returned from Italy and had an unexplained temperature three weeks later) I have no way of knowing. I recorded my symptoms with Zoe over the course of the 5 days I was ill. I met some of the 'symptoms' listed, so I wonder how my data was used.

What if in those early figures the symptomatic cases were over inflated? People recording illness automatically attributed to Covid when it may have just been a headache, cold or tonsilitis etc.?

In the email when they suggest a test, it includes these words:
"You’ve recently reported feeling unwell with a particular combination of symptoms. We would like to offer you a test to discover if you have the virus right now. This does not necessarily mean you have COVID-19 as we are also inviting some people we believe do not have the virus. "

So, people who get this email might be in the group where they think you could have the virus, or might be in the control group where they think you don't have the virus (i.e. checking whether their algorithms are good or need adjusting)