Only 1 in 10 self-isolating after being contacted by Track and Trace

[GreenGoldRed]

Released SAGE documents show only 1 in 10 people are isolating when told to have confirmed exposure to a positive case (versus 65 % of people who said they would). Reasons given: they didn’t have symptoms, needed to get food from shop and dependent children (who they took to school etc).

Totally doesn’t surprise me. I live in a very middle class area. I know several people who have had to isolate (mainly returning from abroad) and not one has fully isolated, from going to a run, to seeing family and friends.

The number of threads where I see people saying they won’t adhere to rules, because “the government haven’t got an effective track and trace system in place”, but what do they think is an “effective system”? (I know people will say quicker results, but quicker results don’t impact on 14 day self isolation for exposure).

To me this should exemplifies the problem in this country. Lack of personal responsibility, but lots of shouting. Yes there will be people who have “good” reasons (can’t afford not to go to work), but that won’t be 90 per cent of people. People want easier answers so they shout, “ineffective track and trace” etc, but when asked to stay home for 14 days they don’t cause it’s too much of an inconvenience.

So question what does the govt do? I wonder if they reduced to 7 days (I know virus is 14 day incubation, but I am sure I read somewhere saying it would catch 90 per cent of cases) people would adhere better. Surely it’s better to get better compliance for a shorter period then barely any for 14 days?

I'm sure they had the same problem in France so I don't think it's a case of just us being shit. They reduced to 7 days to up compliance. People can't afford repeated 14 days off work

@Jrobhatch29 I thought I read another country had dropped to 7 days. Has France found compliance has improved?

[quote GreenGoldRed]@Jrobhatch29 I thought I read another country had dropped to 7 days. Has France found compliance has improved?[/quote]
Tbh I really don't know!

But the OP says that the reasons people have for not self isolating
they didn’t have symptoms, needed to get food from shop and dependent children (who they took to school etc)
So this doesn’t seem to be an issue with people not being able to have time off work. I’m sure the proportion of people who would have that problem is nowhere near as high as 90%

This is basically the same problem as the Scottish MP and a doctor I know who still saw patients while awaiting a test result. The problem is arrogance.

We had to self isolate a couple of weeks ago due to DCs nursery bubble popping (well he had to self isolate which effectively meant we did. However due to delays with testing/track and trace we only had to do it for 7 days as it had already been 7 days since exposure! So I can’t see the problem with reducing it to 7 days to up compliance when the system isn’t effective at achieving a 14 day windows from exposure anyway.

Government messaging and strategy has shown utter incompetence. People now taking advantage of that incompetence because it suits them and everyone is now an armchair expert.

Well, actually that report was from August, so it's hardly news is it? And the estimate was that they didn't FULLY isolate; plus it was based on an awful lot of guesswork if you actually read the minutes of the meeting you are referring to. Not fully self-isolating could be as simple as not being able to isolate from other household members because not everyone actually has the space to do that. There is no real evidence that this figure is correct - for goodness sake the Test and Trace system is in so much disarray that they can't even do the job they are meant to do, never mind run surveys of people they've contacted already to see if they did as they were told.

You are right about one thing though. There's a lot of "shouting" going on in the country. A lot of shouting about what everyone else should or should not be doing. You are part of it. Dragging up old and unreliably evidenced news to have another go at other people. It seems to be all that MumsNet is for these days.

If govt is serious they should get people to check isolation is occurring and issue fines.

Several reasons why there is a lack of compliance full stop, either self isolation or with the rules in general.

Students are ignoring the rules full stop. Frustration from several of my friends with kids at university. They get virtually no tuition and then nearly all on line so stuck in another city and NOTHING to do..so guess what

People see it as voluntary when high profile people just ignore it...ie Cummings/Corbyn/SNP MP. They behave as usual that compliance with the law is for the plebs. Hence their hidden hated of the police when they get caught (Andrew Mitchell etc all..)

People are sick of it. They can see that none of the U.K. governments has any strategy except to keep locking people down to a greater or lesser degree yet pretend the do

Lack of any trust in the app. People don't believe that govt isn't tracking them

As a result, the only ones I see really complying are the elderly. My neighbours are all carrying as before, visitors to house (Tier 2 and going to tier 3) and going out....if you are in a pub...how the hell does anyone prove whether you are with someone you have gone out with or happen to have met by chance

Utter mess

I think it's massively influenced by peoples affordability to self isolate. We're a single income household. If my dh had to isolate, he wouldn't get paid anywhere near his wage. Without any symptoms, I couldn't promise that he would adhere to it. I think it's all very well telling people to think of others and the greater good but when it leaves you hundreds of pounds in debt then it's not always realistic.

I live in a nice-ish area with people shouting “protect NHS” and to “take Covid seriously” (lots of them enjoyed being able not to go to work and to be paid for sitting at their wonderful home relaxing). But when it came to self-isolating due to being asked by school, most of parents decided to bend the rules as it fits them. I felt so silly following the rules straight to the end of the isolation period, even though my family suffered most from it and I don’t agree with these measures and live in a small flat where it’s so hard to keep the child occupied and happy. I still followed the rules. The most common offence of those who did t follow the rules was to test the symptomless child (obviously lying about a “spike of fever” to get the test) during isolation period and say “he’s negative, he can go outside”. Well, no. He can’t. He still has to isolate.

I fully support people not isolating.

I don't think it's right. If you're told to isolate then you should.

However as there is no appropriate and quick financial support for everyone (not just the lowest income families because it will affect the majority of people not to bring in 2 weeks wages whilst bills are still coming out), then I completely support people not doing.

The government should make it financially possible and then there would, I would imagine, be more compliance.

@OpheliasCrayon

I fully support people not isolating.

I don't think it's right. If you're told to isolate then you should.

However as there is no appropriate and quick financial support for everyone (not just the lowest income families because it will affect the majority of people not to bring in 2 weeks wages whilst bills are still coming out), then I completely support people not doing.

The government should make it financially possible and then there would, I would imagine, be more compliance.

Completely agree with you. My DS woke up with a temp a few weeks ago and we had to isolate. I had planned to go food shopping once he was at school and we barely had a thing in and couldn't get a delivery until the next day. We had to wait until 6pm for my mam to drop some things off. If I had needed some calpol or something I can't promise I wouldn't have gone to get some. Not everyone can afford to keep 2 weeks worth of food in "just incase" as well. There are some really tough situations as well, like if you have to isolate but your children are still expected in school... If you have nobody to help how else you meant to get them there? It's not always people being selfish, it's sometimes just impossible situations.

I think one of the issues with compliance is that it's nowhere as easy to catch it as you think - I know people definitely exposed who didn't catch it so you can get blasé.

Ps back in March when dp came home from work with a fever I actually went straight to the shops and bought a weeks worth of groceries (it was 7 days back then) in case I came down with it, which I did 3 days later. We have no family locally and no friends particularly close buy due to only moving recently before then.

@Jrobhatch29 of course you'd go get calpol if you didn't have any!!

Also - I'm sure that if we all had 2 weeks of food in (I don't ) we'd be told we're selfishly panic buying or something so there's absolutely no winning

We’re clearly not China therefore presented with an inept system of enforcement people will make their own choices based on things such as personal risk & this will become more prevalent the longer this goes on through restrictions fatigue.

If the cases in the UK did end up swamping the NHS I’d imagine the government may allow Sky News into the hospitals a la Lombardy to appeal to peoples emotions as that may prove to be more effective as a method of galvanising the populace.

I totally get self isolating if you have tested positive or someone who lives with you has. What I’m not convinced about is getting a call from test and trace saying you visited somewhere where someone tested positive, and being told to stay indoors for two weeks just in case. Maybe that’s not how it works, but I’d be all for stronger compliance if you were personally affected, less so for more tenuous links when the virus is in general circulation in asymptomatic individuals anyway. I think a shorter isolation period could be an improvement on the current situation.

I think they should reduce it to 7days. I read 96% show symptoms in the first 7 days so it’s only 4% for the extra week. It’s unsustainable to keep asking people, especially kids and teenagers to keep doing 14 day stints.

Dc is going to have to isolate for the 4th time since August. Been at school for 2 weeks this term. Upper sixth. Distraught as says no hope for A levels now. Luckily one week is over half term. Online learning doesn’t work for all. They’ve now just given up.

Dh had it & I share a bed & didn’t get it. I don’t think it’s that easy to spread. The rest of us didn’t. He was in work & no one did there either.

The problem isn't test & trace, it's people's selfish arrogance.

My ds's dad is banned from visiting us this weekend because last weekend he spent motor racing with a family from Nottingham (tier2). One of them is a key worker who ignored all the rules, travelled 200 miles south to join them in a hotel. Ds's dad claimed he wasn't socialising on this trip then got drunk and made a video call to ds who could see who was in the room.

So he's banned for 14 days. We have no cases at ds's school, I refuse to jeopardise that.

I would and have self isolated fully for a household member with symptoms for several days until we got a negative test. Happy to do it and would do it again. I can’t say that the absolutely draconian rules around test and trace are something I would find easy to comply with (exactly what is the risk of someone who might have it but probably doesn’t going for a walk outside?) particularly repeatedly and particularly if I don’t agree that I am actually a contact - what if my neighbour tests positive and gives me as a contact but I think our conversation was outside for 2 minutes several metres away, she thinks it was 15 minutes and within 2 metres? It just is not realistic to expect people to isolate to that extent to their personal detriment, on the off chance, repeatedly, especially when all around are other infected or exposed people who aren’t following the rules or able to get a test or being traced or whatever. It needs a fast and easy test to show if you are infectious, and that test to be daily for 14 days. Unfortunately that test does not exist, yet.

I just think it's asking too much of people - particularly as you can get told to isolate for 14 days, then two days after finishing that period of isolation you can be asked to do it again.

People's kids are missing school, they're not able to go to work, they can't walk their dog, get some fresh air or take their regular exercise - and all when they don't have symptoms and may never develop them. I'm surprised at the number who DO isolate when told to, TBH.

I think they need to find ways to make people comply more.
I think drop to 7 days. Plus we know more about the virus now. You are not going to pass the virus on by taking your dog for a walk or even going for a walk yourself. It’s close contact indoors for more that 15 minutes.

I understand they don’t want it to be confusing but I think it doesn’t make sense for people to not be able to even go for a walk.