Reducing contact isolation from 14 to 7 days

[Lemons1571]

It’s in the headlines this morning, ministers are considering a reduction in the 14 day isolation period to 7 or 10 days.

I think it’s a reasonable move given the low compliance stats. Not the optimum solution from a medical or scientific perspective. But if the vast majority of people show symptoms within 7 days then surely it would cover most cases. I believe France have done the same thing due to low compliance. It is also less daunting and more achievable for the majority, with lesser loss of income, mental health considerations, education missed.

My only concern is t&t taking so long to contact people, that the 7 days would be up before they manage to get themselves into gear.

Does anyone know whether you have to have the app to get the £500 isolation grant ?

I think 7 days is much more sensible tbh if it catches the majority of cases that way. I'm absolutely dreading DS14 getting the dreaded isolation email as he will miss so much school in 14 days - yes they have some online provision but it's not the same.

Also I have to admit if we were told to self isolate for 14 days we'd comply mostly but still walk the dog when nobody else around. For 7 days we'd be more likely to up the dog walker and not go out at all.

It has to be a balancing act between what is optimum for reducing infection rates and what is pragmatic and achievable. Far better to have a 7 day rule that 80% comply fully with than a 14 day one that 50% follow.

My phone is too old to have the app and I've heard that it doesn't check you out of places so you could end up self isolating when you weren't even there at the same time as the infected person. I do scan in on the QR code when I go somewhere though.

Does anyone know whether you have to have the app to get the £500 isolation grant

The opposite, notification to isolate via the app does not entitle you to the grant (nor is it legally required to isolate), only notification via T&T.

I think it would definitely be a good move. Better to have 70% of people isolating for 7 days (made up figures) than 18% isolating for 14 days (real figures) it makes sense that if the majority of cases develop in the first 7 days you catch more that way. Yes it will miss a few that take longer to develop but overall that will be less.

And definitely better for kids!

@sirfredfredgeorge so his own positive result doesn’t entitle him to it ?

@girlsyearapart @sirfredfredgeorge I thought the point with the app and the grant was that the app was faulty by not providing a code to enable someone to apply for the grant rather than because they’re not entitled to get it??

"Absolutely awful move, if people aren’t complying then they won’t regardless of the number of days."

We are more likely to manage autistic ds indoors safely for 7 days rather than 14 days. I'm happy to keep him off school for longer but confined indoors -no.

Excellent idea. Compliance with the 14 days is nowhere near where it needs to be. Hopefully reducing it to 7 will help.

@Sonnenscheins

Great idea!

The average incubation period is 4-5 days.

People are much more likely to comply with 7 days!

Yes completely agree.

7 days would still be around the time a lot of people develop symptoms so I'd be a bit cautious about that. But 10 days sounds sensible. It's something like 98% of people develop symptoms by 10 days (if they're going to at all of course.) Plus in most cases it takes a few days to alert people that they've been in contact with someone so they're probably already a few days into their 10 day count down, so only about a week to isolate for.

As someone else has said, it's also a simpler message because people who have Covid have to isolate for 10 days and there's some confusion and sense that it's not "fair" that contacts (most of whom won't have it) have to isolate for longer.

It's true about the delay @Firefliess . Some DCs from our school had to self isolate for 1.5 days as it took that long to get the test done and results out.

My app pinged early in the week and said 10 days, is it still 14? I check it regularly and definitely didn't just not see it for 4 days. Unless it means it was 4 days before that I was exposed?

I started a thread on this yesterday (reports only 10 per cent compliance with 14 days). Most of the people I know who have had to isolate have not done for the 14 days. These are all people who have no financial/work/childcare issues if they had to self-isolate - so if anyone should be complying they should.

Reduce to 7 days (and test on day 7). Increase the fines, and I would target middle class/better off people in respect of compliance. If people thought there was a real risk they would be paying £10,000 then they would stay home.

Completely agree. We need restrictions that we can keep in place and live with for years - not weeks. 14 days is not sustainable.

@rookiemere

My phone is too old to have the app and I've heard that it doesn't check you out of places so you could end up self isolating when you weren't even there at the same time as the infected person. I do scan in on the QR code when I go somewhere though.

You check yourself out when you leave. When you check in, a check out page comes up which you click when you check out.

@OliveTree75

Yes I think its a move in the right direction. 2 weeks is a long time especially for children

I don’t understand this viewpoint. It’s irrelevant what’s difficult or easy or what anyone wants to do. If the science says 14 days is necessary, it’s necessary. Cutting it because it’s a bit difficult to comply with is nonsense.

@Nikki078 - as my comment above. Whether you think it’s ‘sustainable’ or not is irrelevant if it’s what the science requires.

If the science says 14 days is necessary, it’s necessary. Cutting it because it’s a bit difficult to comply with is nonsense

The science doesn't say that though, there are documented cases of considerably more than 14 days infectious, or incubation+infectious. It's a trade off between likely compliance, likelihood of transmission and the cost to the individual of isolating.

The argument would be that 14 days is the incorrect trade-off, and 7 gives you more of the benefits with less of the negatives. That is a decision the scientists in france among others have chosen.

No. You don't reduce the time needed to isolate, you increase the compliance.

Stuck or carrot. But that's what's required. The virus isn't going to reduce its incubation period because it's a bit tricky fir people to comply FFS

Don't France currently have one of the higest Covid rates in Europe?

So as much as I'd like a shorter SI period (we're doing our second since Sept) I don't think it is going to work.

@notevenat20

I think it has to be done. DD’s year was recently sent home for 14 days. From the class whatsapp group it was clear no one was going to follow the rules for that long. The French worked this out a while ago.

How many cases have France had today?50,000 I think.

Surely it all depends how long the incubation period is?

My ds had a positive contact last Monday (confirmed by his school). I've been told to expect public health to contact me, 6 days later I'm still waiting. A friend of mine recently waited 11 days.

Myself and dh are keyworkers. We have had to have Covid tests on several occasions and had to wait anything from 24 hours to 7 days for our results.

The whole of the testing system and track and trace needs to improve before they can even begin to think about doing this imo (and even then only if scientists can show the incubation period is less than 14 days).

And I agree, France is hardly a great example at the moment!

When I was contact traced I had contact on the Tuesday and I was traced on the Friday. If it was only seven days it would have been only 3 days off work.

I have thought for a long time now that that we would need to move toward a shorter isolation period. Much better to have 75% isolate for 7 days than 25% for 14. What we are doing now isn't working.

The restrictions are contrary to human nature and as a result people will find it really hard to comply for long periods of time. Not because they are stupid or selfish but because it's hard. This has been know and acknowledged from the start. Some parts of the country have been under additional restrictions (over and above Tier 1 level) pretty much since March give or take a few weeks.

This country is policed by consent. Sanctions become ineffective once a sufficiently large proportion of people have disengaged. There simply isn't the option in this country to impose sanctions in the way they have in countries like China (which I personally think is a good thing!)

Hopefully they'll make the changes soon.