Too many people getting tested who aren't eligible

[JorisBonson]

news.sky.com/story/coronavirus-health-secretary-blames-people-with-no-symptoms-getting-tests-on-system-strain-12067065

There's a lot of theads on here where people are getting tested with just cold symptoms. Wonder if this is a trend nationally?

There was someone on here wanted their son to get tested because he had been on holiday...

I doubt it’s limited to on here

The schools are demanding children get tested to allow them to go back. The government needs to decide when a test is mandatory or else make more tests available.

I live in a local lockdown area and the council had paid for two test centres to be set up specifically for people without symptoms so they can get the figures down, so that can't be helping the situation if they re short of tests.

5 minutes scanning active threads suggests that exactly this is happening. Everyone with a child with a runny nose is being told to get a test. Yes that can be a symptom but so can fatigue and we’re not suggesting everyone who is tired gets one. There’s a clear capacity issue at the moment, people need to prioritise. Hopefully capacity can be increased and then everyone with a snuggle can test to their heart’s content.

Yet there are lots of people on here who meet the criteria who aren’t getting tested because they KNOW they or their child hasn’t got it.

The government are doing what they always do and blaming others for their fuck up in not ramping up the testing capacity for autumn. Any parent, teacher, uni lecture, GP or just everyday people would be able to tell you that the corona virus symptoms are rife in Autumn.

Oh for fucks sake, apparently we can't do anything right 🙄

Yep I'm with lockdownseparation. This is the government trying to blame the public for their own incompetence. It's a dangerous narrative too. People need to feel they can test for the 3 main symptoms the nhs advises you test for. They shouldn't feel pressured into not testing despite having one of those symptoms because it's 'probably just a cold'

How dare they try and shift the blame onto the general public. They need to sort testing capacity now! We’re all going to need it going through autumn and winter!

This is the only response needed on this thread as it says everything important:

Sky News @skynews
"We have seen an increase of about 25% of people (getting tested) who don't have symptoms and aren't eligible."

Health Secretary @MattHancock appears to blame people without COVID symptoms getting tested for the strain on the system.

Ed Conway @edconwaysky
This is odd.

If govt knows a chunk of those asking for tests aren't eligible then surely it should just refuse them a test?

If that's not happening then surely it's the system and its administration which are to blame - not the people trying to use it.

There's been an unfortunate pattern of this recently.

Cases rise and govt blames young people - not the fact that lockdown has been eased.

Testing system creaks and govt blames young people for over-using it.

Whatever happened to govt taking (or at least sharing) responsibility?

The reality is that the govt's testing system has faced mammoth administrative problems from the beginning. @rowlsmanthorpe and I wrote something on this a month or two back and it seems some problems still remain

news.sky.com/story/coronavirus-the-inside-story-of-how-uks-chaotic-testing-regime-broke-all-the-rules-12022566
Coronavirus: The inside story of how UK's 'chaotic' testing regime 'broke all the rules'
Insiders reveal that data collection was haphazard, as officials went against accepted practice and "buffed the system".

We know that when schools returned in Spain cases went up considerably. We are headed into autumn where colds are more prevelant. We know that children and teenagers are prone to 'freshers flu' after the summer break and not being in contact with so many others. We know that we have both over cautious schools (due to the guidelines) and anxious parents desparate not to take time off work.

Its not exactly rocket science to work out that the first and second weeks in September were likely to see a significant rise in the demand for tests. This should have been planned for.

Behavioural experts could have told the government that demand from those not eligible in this situation was likely too. And this should have been built into capacity planning.

Every bit as much as the question of how the government can see people who aren't eligible for a test but the system gives them out anyway.

Instead its the publics fault for piss poor government management. Again.

But what can you do. DS has what I am pretty sure is a cold but he also has a cough with it (like he always does).

The cough as a symptom is vague - I have read and reread it many times and still dont quite get what a continuous cough means. Only that DS has a cough, a mucousy one that appears throughout the day

It's the trend here in Northern Ireland too. One of mine is off school already with a chest infection, has to have Covid negative result to go back to school.

At least in UK we have NHS and get all this for free. Feel wick for people in countries who need to pay for the tests every time they sneeze or their child coughs!

Sadly it's true . So many people have been tested because they wanted to see if they have had it!
So many.
They need to tighten things up

I've not seen any posts saying they're getting tests for a runny nose. Plenty for coughs, but that is what the government guidelines state.

This is a capacity issue. If you have (for example) 100 tests available and they're all taken by workers from a factory where there is a known outbreak, then that area suddenly has a 100% positive test rate. If you have 1000 tests and those workers plus others with possible cases plus some with no symptoms, you'll probably have 110 cases and an 11% positive test rate. Wider testing is vital to get a true picture of what is going on.

Plus all workers in old people's homes are tested routinely.. could be wrong but x2 a week and use these slots too.

Just another example of the govt blaming the public in a blatant attempt to cover up their own ineptitude

Given the school forced me to get my asymptomatic child tested, it's maybe the schools that need some guidance.

Government blaming everyone but themselves again.

(And how do they know people are getting tests without symptoms? This isn’t recorded anywhere as far as I know).

So many people have been tested because they wanted to see if they have had it! So many.

A test will not tell someone if they have had it. Do you have examples of where this is happening?

Plus all workers in old people's homes are tested routinely.. could be wrong but x2 a week and use these slots too.

They should be but they're not getting the kits through. Yet another example of the government letting down the most vulnerable.

Why on earth have they not increased testing capacity for children going back to school.
It was clear as day Thai was going to happen.
Now the government are blaming the public and schools. It’s a disgrace.

It was pretty obvious that a return of schools was going to put a massive strain on testing - it just happened in Scotland a few weeks ago, hardly any of the children had covid. I doubt that many are testing for a runny nose. Unfortunately fevers and coughs are really common and it appears from my own experience, after no exposure to viruses, pretty much everyone now seems to have one. A high proportion of those will have either a cough or a temperature. If most of those children are not tested, the tiny % that have covid won't be picked up and asymptomatic children in their classes would continue to spread it.

Yes isn’t it really weird how there’s been a 25% rise in testing since pubs and gyms opened, restaurants got busy and schools went back. That’s so fucking strange isn’t it!!!!? Not. Dickheads.

@Lockdownseperation

Yet there are lots of people on here who meet the criteria who aren’t getting tested because they KNOW they or their child hasn’t got it.

The government are doing what they always do and blaming others for their fuck up in not ramping up the testing capacity for autumn. Any parent, teacher, uni lecture, GP or just everyday people would be able to tell you that the corona virus symptoms are rife in Autumn.

Yep

I’m in Australia and our state has no active cases at the moment.
We are encouraged to get tested with the following symptoms

fever OR chills (with no alternative illness that explains these symptoms)
cough
sore throat
runny nose
shortness of breath
loss of taste and smell

Surely the uk government should encourage testing

I would imagine this is a huge part of what's happening but DD has what is clearly a cold (nose streaming, sneezing etc) with a bit of a temp which always happens when she has a cold. School won't let her back in until she has been tested