The economy is fucked if the testing can't cope.

[Testingisajoke]

Had to temporarily close our business today as not safe to run with more than half the staff quarantined. Contracted from a school child it started with runny nose sore throat but developed into a cough. Which is persistent, as the majority of coughs are. Only one staff member has managed to get a test but no result yet. Everyone is certain it's a cold but they have a persistent cough so have to isolate. One member of staff has said he might have to hand in his notice as he can't live on ssp and UC takes too long to come through. He might not need to worry we can't afford to keep running the business of staff can't get quick turnaround tests.

How has it come to this, did no-one in the govt considered that sending kids to school would spread coughs and that more testing would be required? All this another lockdown will kill the economy, failure from the govt on testing might kill it first.

Just to add I've spent the last two days trying to get a test for my staff, just keeping refreshing, reloading and re entering the same bloody data again and again.

YADNBU

Frustrating OP.

In NW here and lots of young people with the exact symptoms you describe cannot get tested and not being permitted by employers to self isolate. Also some with symptoms who have been in direct contact with a confirmed case.

@HeyMacarona

Frustrating OP.

In NW here and lots of young people with the exact symptoms you describe cannot get tested and not being permitted by employers to self isolate. Also some with symptoms who have been in direct contact with a confirmed case.

I'm not surprised, loads of places don't follow H&S at work guidelines, however they still have a duty of care to their employees. If an employer forces someone with symptoms to work and they spread it I'm confident they could be prosecuted. It's prison for corporate manslaughter.

If you need a test please just drive up to your nearest centre and say you have symptoms. I tried for 3 days to get ds a test online, saw a post on fb saying you could just drive up. Arrived at an empty centre with staff sat twiddling their thumbs. We got the results 27 hours after the test.

Oh and good luck with your business, it's so hard at the moment

Apparently because the dry cough of the employee is accompanied by a sore throat and runny nose the manager of the business has declared it’s not CV therefore employee cannot be absent. The person cannot get a test to confirm either way.

Yanbu
Ideally all kids would be off with any symptoms at all.
Spreading normal coughs is not helping.
And parents probably need family test each 1 per month.
Could we not get more independent testing. So employers pay. A bit like the football to guarantee it comes back quickly. Just feel so sad football has the money to do this. Really they should sponsor the schools.
Schools should have their own for teachers and students.

Some universities are providing tests for students privately as well

The amount of work/school days that will be missed due to a lack of available tests is going to cost businesses a fortune. I can't believe that the government were not prepared for an increased demand for tests.
Although I suspect that the problem lies with the booking system because I've heard lots of stories of test centres being empty, I went to one with my DC this week, lots of staff, lots of bays, my DC was the only person tested in the 30 minutes or so we were there.
I'd struggled for three hours to book the test.

@HeyMacarona

Apparently because the dry cough of the employee is accompanied by a sore throat and runny nose the manager of the business has declared it’s not CV therefore employee cannot be absent. The person cannot get a test to confirm either way.

This makes me so angry. How could the government not foresee this? I bloody did and it’s going to get harder throughout winter.

Employees need protection to be able to do the right thing. Yes it will cost the employer money but there’s a much bigger picture here. I think covid symptoms should be protected in the same way pregnancy symptoms are for the period of the pandemic.

Along with that they need to urgently get their act together with testing. The majority of people are trying to do the right thing and can’t, it’s a fucking disgrace.

@HeyMacarona

Frustrating OP.

In NW here and lots of young people with the exact symptoms you describe cannot get tested and not being permitted by employers to self isolate. Also some with symptoms who have been in direct contact with a confirmed case.

This is awful, the virus is going to get out of control again. It is already bad in the North West.

Failure to test. Failure to trace. Failure to isolate. *

The three key responses to control a pandemic (not lockdowns which are a blunt tool used to suppress numbers when they exceed what a TTI approach can control or your TTI systems are inadequate or not yet in place).

(*Contact tracers in England are only managing to find and contact around two thirds of contacts, only around one third of people with symptoms are self isolating, not sure about the numbers/percentages of those unable to get tested).

I've just been down to the testing center apparently up until Tuesday people could just turn up but since then they haven't been allowed. There were approximately 40 staff there and ONE car in the waiting bay. I queued to get in and every car, after a chat with someone was shown to the exit. I saw 10 cars get turned away. The person I spoke to said they had hardly anyone turn up with an appointment. They recommended I stayed logged in and keep refreshing the page. This is complete incompetants.

Testingisajoke

Numbers will be much higher than published with so much missed testing, if they don’t get a grip soon this could quickly get out of control

@CoffeeandCroissant

Failure to test. Failure to trace. Failure to isolate. *

The three key responses to control a pandemic (not lockdowns which are a blunt tool used to suppress numbers when they exceed what a TTI approach can control or your TTI systems are inadequate or not yet in place).

(*Contact tracers in England are only managing to find and contact around two thirds of contacts, only around one third of people with symptoms are self isolating, not sure about the numbers/percentages of those unable to get tested).

It's not like we've had time to plan for the winter!

The problem with the testing is the lab capacity to process the tests. So yes, the actual test centres are virtually emtpy , but for some reason, apparently, the labs can not keep up with demand to process the tests done.
I also agree it is bloody madness. How could they not have forseen this? They spent all summer working really hard on operation Moonshite apparently but couldn't predict an increased demand for tests when schools went back and business re-opened?!?

@mosscarpet moonshite 😂 I'm going to steal that.

The testing will cope if people stop having tests for every tiny little sniffle (and aren't made by schools/nurseries to get their children tested for every last sniffle - eg you KNOW if your child is teething).

Yes, you may have it with a sore throat. Or with no discernible symptoms at all. But people should only be getting tested for the key ones.

@Testingisajoke

I've just been down to the testing center apparently up until Tuesday people could just turn up but since then they haven't been allowed. There were approximately 40 staff there and ONE car in the waiting bay. I queued to get in and every car, after a chat with someone was shown to the exit. I saw 10 cars get turned away. The person I spoke to said they had hardly anyone turn up with an appointment. They recommended I stayed logged in and keep refreshing the page. This is complete incompetants.

This wasn’t MK was it OP because what you describe was on our local news, apparently 75 got turned away today without appointments at MK testing centre which looked empty

@RingtheBells no, but I'm not surprised it's happening elsewhere.

@puffinkoala

The testing will cope if people stop having tests for every tiny little sniffle (and aren't made by schools/nurseries to get their children tested for every last sniffle - eg you KNOW if your child is teething).

Yes, you may have it with a sore throat. Or with no discernible symptoms at all. But people should only be getting tested for the key ones.

I don't think we should be blaming people that are trying to stop spreading a virus. I'm confident my workforce have a cold related cough, but I'm not a doctor and the govt clearly says get a cough for a continuous cough.

@puffinkoala

The testing will cope if people stop having tests for every tiny little sniffle (and aren't made by schools/nurseries to get their children tested for every last sniffle - eg you KNOW if your child is teething).

Yes, you may have it with a sore throat. Or with no discernible symptoms at all. But people should only be getting tested for the key ones.

I agree with this. I've been saying it on multiple threads over the last few weeks but drowned out by multiple posters saying "better safe than sorry" or "I had covid and my only symptom was a sore throat"

I work in care and we have to be tested fortnightly regardless of whether or not we have symptoms, because that’s the guidance from PHE for us!