Hancock says Covid tests are now having to be prioritised, with further restrictions possible

[JS87]

According to the Guardian, Matt Hancock is speaking in HoC and said:
We’ve seen a sharp rise in people coming forward for a test, including those who are not eligible.

And throughout this pandemic we have prioritised testing according to need. Over the summer, when demand was low, we were able to meet all requirements for testing, whether priorities or not.

But as demand has risen, so we are having to prioritise once again. And I do not shirk from decisions about prioritisation. They are not always comfortable, but they are important.

The top priority is, and always has been, acute clinical care.

The next priority is social care, where we’re now sending over 100,000 tests a day because we’ve all seen the risks this virus poses in care homes.

We’ll set out in full an updated prioritisation and I do not rule out further steps to make sure tests are used according to those priorities. It is a choice that we must make.

I have reported a child for coughing fifty times in a single lesson and they have remained in school. If that is not a continuous cough, I am at a loss what is. They were 1.5m from me for an hour. So pissed off.

@Hereinthesticks

Replace 'prioritise' with 'ration'. They didn't ensure there was enough capacity in the testing system and now they have to ration the testing to key workers. Parents are going to have to make a value judgement about whether their child has a simple cold. We are not medical experts but we have no choice now.

Its not parents who will make the judgement its school as they can refuse them in school without a negative test

@Hereinthesticks
Whether you like it or not, or consider the current level of capacity sufficient, the fact remains the capacity in the UK is the greatest level of capacity (relative to population) anywhere in Europe. Unless every government is equally incompetent this would suggest that their is a capacity constraint for one of the required parts of the systems needed to process tests and that whatever the competence of the government the current numbers of tests being processed wouldn't have been significantly different.
The big difference between the UK and other countries relating to testing is how tests are being prioritised and especially the proportion of tests being used in the social care sector. Unfortunately the government made inappropriate promises to the social care sector many months ago which has led to way too many tests being used in that sector and it being virtually impossible to reduce the numbers to something more appropriate without the opposition slaughtering the government.

@Nellodee

I have reported a child for coughing fifty times in a single lesson and they have remained in school. If that is not a continuous cough, I am at a loss what is. They were 1.5m from me for an hour. So pissed off.

That is annoying. You’d think schools would be cautious. Who made the decision?

While I’m on one what would be even better would be for either a universal wage or better paid ‘dependents leave,’ so that people don’t have to send their ill children into school. Then a zero tolerance on sending poorly children into school.

The time has gone for praising 100% attendance. It isn’t a badge of honour to crawl into work poorly and infect colleagues, or send children into school to infect their classmates.

If we had zero tolerance to illness then Covid wouldn’t have got much of a grip in the first place!

Callers on LBC this morning reporting that they were able to turn up without an appointment and get tested just because they had an NHS or teachers ID card. So the rationing is already happening.

Nellodee: 50 times is a bit much and clearly warrants a test though.

It need not have been an choice we must make' had they sorted their shit out over the summer.

I mean who could have predicted the uptake in testing once the schools were back? Or when autumn started? Or when more activities started?

JFC seriously?

So basically out of the ''5 things the UK needs to achieve'' from way back when we are now at the stage of these no longer applying?

The last 3 of the 5 we aren't achieving.

3: 'we need to have reliable data showing the rate of infection is decreasing to manageable levels across the board.'

4: we need to be confident the range of operational challenges, including testing capacity and PPE, are in hand with supply able to meet future demand.

and 5: we need to be confident that any adjustments to the current measures will not risk a second peak of infections.

This government are showing no lessons have been learnt at all from our 'head start' back in Feb / March time.
I'm sure the wording of those 5 conditions have changed over time but those are basically the ones we've failed/failing.

@ducklingyellowowl

Unsurprising but depressing. How are we going to get through winter without adequate tests?

Another tory shitshow.

It is a shit show. I'm definitely not denying that, but shy keep on about it being a 'Tory' shitshow. Do you honestly think any other party would have handled it any better???

I would like to know how they can say that people are having tests who don't need them.

How do they know? Are these people rocking up and saying they don't have symptoms? If that's the case, then why administer the test?

I can't see any sort of evidence reported to say people are being tested who don't need it-- other than Matt Hancock says so. And he says lots of things.

Also the Track and Trace app just about to be launched in England - why not use that in schools to pinpoint whether a pupil came near a positive case, just like in the rest of the population. Presumably that would reduce a lot of the uncertainty about whether the slight cough is due to a cold or covid (obviously not a properly continuous cough, which does seem to warrant testing).
Secondary schools should be considering whether allowing mobile phones in school would help and the government should promote the app for pupils if applicable. Nearly all secondary school pupils have a smart phone (not all obvs) and could make use of this technology.

[quote StatisticalSense]@Hereinthesticks
Whether you like it or not, or consider the current level of capacity sufficient, the fact remains the capacity in the UK is the greatest level of capacity (relative to population) anywhere in Europe. Unless every government is equally incompetent this would suggest that their is a capacity constraint for one of the required parts of the systems needed to process tests and that whatever the competence of the government the current numbers of tests being processed wouldn't have been significantly different.
The big difference between the UK and other countries relating to testing is how tests are being prioritised and especially the proportion of tests being used in the social care sector. Unfortunately the government made inappropriate promises to the social care sector many months ago which has led to way too many tests being used in that sector and it being virtually impossible to reduce the numbers to something more appropriate without the opposition slaughtering the government.[/quote]
You’re right. But I’d just let them and do the right thing.

I don’t mind that they prioritise key workers as long as that runs alongside another plan that is also either gearing up more testing for the plebs or sorting out track or trace.

@SeekingCoffee33

While I’m on one what would be even better would be for either a universal wage or better paid ‘dependents leave,’ so that people don’t have to send their ill children into school. Then a zero tolerance on sending poorly children into school.

The time has gone for praising 100% attendance. It isn’t a badge of honour to crawl into work poorly and infect colleagues, or send children into school to infect their classmates.

If we had zero tolerance to illness then Covid wouldn’t have got much of a grip in the first place!

The problem with that is employees then take the piss and take time off willy-nilly because little Jonny is ill again knowing they'll get paid and their employers cant do shit about it. Even if dependant leave was capped its either a green light to employees to use this as extra holiday entitlement, or for those who genuinely have children who are regularly ill that they will then go back to sending them ill again because they've used up all their dependant leave.

How do they know? Are these people rocking up and saying they don't have symptoms Exactly. I suspect these are cases whether a person has a slight cough and no other symptoms. But then they would be admitting that they don't have capacity to take people who only have mild symptoms.

I'm a key worker and can't event get a test

My brother was hospitalised last night with suspected sepsis and a temperature of 40
This morning he was discharged with a probable lower respiratory infection and the doctor said it might be Covid but he wasn’t tested
That can’t be right, to send people home without a test

@MJMG2015 yes actually I do!

Have a look into the way the Tories have prioritised private companies over the NHS, have put testing and track/trace in the hands of these companies instead of localised labs and local community health services. This is a specifically conservative agenda to privatise and monetise public services.

We have the worst record in Europe during the first wave as we know - much of this was due to conservative reluctance to put people’s health over the economy.

To have a Tory government - and a Boris Johnson government at that - in charge at a time of national crisis is a monumental disaster for us all.

The testing is going to get worse not better I'd think.

Numbers will go up because cases are growing.
By their own admission the govt expect tests to go up in Oct as other illnesses with similar symptoms become more widespread. They have definetely misjudged/ ignored the Petri dish effect of schools though when it comes to colds etc.

What do you think the priority will be.

1. NHS
2. Care homes

3 essential infrastructure and good?

1. Schools ? How will this work in practice? You could prioritise teachers but then there will be tens of? thousands of kids needing tests to go back to school too

@insancerre

My brother was hospitalised last night with suspected sepsis and a temperature of 40 This morning he was discharged with a probable lower respiratory infection and the doctor said it might be Covid but he wasn’t tested That can’t be right, to send people home without a test

That's terrible!!!

Hope he's feeling better soon poor chap!

Madness. The five conditions, the traffic lights, all of the patronising twatty messaging completely ignored and brushed under the carpet

Maybe there are some people turning up with a mild cough, just in case. But I don't see any way to prove that.

Are there enough mild coughs to overwhelm the system? Or has opening up the schools genuinely made a lot of people sick?

I don't necessarily believe the idea that we genuinely test at levels higher than anywhere else, or we wouldn't be able to send tests abroad for processing. Their systems would be overwhelmed by the increasing numbers of cases that we already see in other European countries.

There was a times article yesterday that made it very clear that we aren't testing anywhere near the numbers that have been published.

So, kids will be safe in school because.... testing.

But schools are asking kids with possible symptoms to test too much, so testing will be restricted. (So much for school then.... if we can't get a quickly confirmed yes or no then we are going to have to assume a positive as soon as a child has symptoms, or risk free moving transmission again!)

Worse, we base our lockdown policies, particularly regional lockdown policies, on how many positives we've had. But we can't test, so we don't have an accurate figure, so we don't know whether an area is spiking or has come under control again.

So, in short, the whole thing is rubbish. But we knew that, right?

How will this affect schools? You could be mistaken for thinking that numbers are increasing in schools and this could be a way of hiding that away. I assume what will happen in testing can't take place then there will be large numbers of children that then have to self isolate, maybe many times, and schools are then covid free. Also free of many children.

[quote ducklingyellowowl]@MJMG2015 yes actually I do!

Have a look into the way the Tories have prioritised private companies over the NHS, have put testing and track/trace in the hands of these companies instead of localised labs and local community health services. This is a specifically conservative agenda to privatise and monetise public services.

We have the worst record in Europe during the first wave as we know - much of this was due to conservative reluctance to put people’s health over the economy.

To have a Tory government - and a Boris Johnson government at that - in charge at a time of national crisis is a monumental disaster for us all. [/quote]
Ok , so tell me. How much better do you think corbyn would have done? Or even Starmer?

I don't for one minute disagree it's a shit show, nor am I backing the tories in any way, but I genuinely don't think any of the other parties would have been any better.