With so many asymptomatic and lots non compliant why is test track and trace the way out?

[Whatchasayin]

I've frequently read we need an effective test, track and trace system but I can't see how this will make much difference to our current situation.

Other than forcing people to have regular tests, I can't either.

I'm glad it's not just me.

I’ve thought this for a long while now. Have tried to ask various people and in various places but people look at me blankly.

Or I get asked to provide a better alternative.

Not sure there is one. Does there have to be one? Still doesn’t make Track and trace the way out.

Maybe that’s why the government isn’t bothering to make it world beating.

But surley, when there are more asymptomatic people, that's the time we need track and trace most? They themselves may be asymptomatic, but if they don't know they have it, they will be passing it to others who may die from it. At least if they are traced, they may get a test and so isolate

Me neither . Also if we were all social distancing then who would there be to track and trace except family .

The areas where the highest spread is at the moment is students and apparently they are just breaking the rules .

So what chance do we stand ?

It won't, and hasn't in the UK, France, Spain, Germany etc.

It's wishful thinking.

Track and trace would have worked if numbers were very low like in NZ

They’re too high here in the UK now, so T&T is no longer a way out of this.

It could have been if our government had got its act together sooner. But it didn’t.

@pontypridd

Track and trace would have worked if numbers were very low like in NZ

They’re too high here in the UK now, so T&T is no longer a way out of this.

It could have been if our government had got its act together sooner. But it didn’t.

No it wouldn't.

At least if they are traced, they may get a test and so isolate

And there's the flaw. It doesn't matter how much Mumsnetters people go on about the importance of getting a robust (it's always "robust") Track & Trace system, it's only ever going to be as effective as the general public will allow it to be.

So it never will be 🤷🏼‍♀️

So then perhaps everyone needs to be tested weekly

Not possible or likely to happen tho

I think it still could work, but it'd need a proper lockdown period.
Logically, if everyone was given warning to get in food (and given a grant to do that, and to cover 2 weeks off work for most people, apart from key workers), and everything shut down - including schools and colleges for 2 whole weeks, the only people moving about would be essential workers.

If they had enough tests to test all essential workers through that time, and make sure they weren't spreading it, then the virus couldn't go anywhere. It would just die out as people who had it got well (or, sadly died) without passing it on.

After 2 weeks, if it was really strict, then presumably the only people still ill would be in hospital. That would be few enough people to track and trace, and once the numbers are really low it should be easier. The countries which do have a really good grip on this have kept numbers extremely low, and then they can put all their resources into tackling any new breakout really fast - leaving most of the population completely safe to do anything apart from travel.

I know it wouldn't work in real life because not enough people would probably stick to the rules now, but if it was possible, it would be such a good thing to do, especially for people who've been in various degrees of lockdown for weeks and weeks.

Yes, it'd cost money for the government to fund, but once that lockdown is over, then with enough testing packs, we'd all be able to do normal things and see people (carefully), so not so many jobs would be lost, and then we won't have so many deaths or people getting really ill, before the vaccines are approved.

There are some saliva tests under development that give a result in under an hour. If we could get enough of them going, that make a massive difference. But we would have to have huge, huge numbers of them - and decent support for anyone needing to isolate, so that people did do that - and then we could get things under control before a vaccine. But again, judging by some threads here and on Twitter, there are too many people still who don't think it's serious enough to do that. Plus it wouldn't be rolled out properly, there wouldn't be enough tests etc etc. It's very depressing.

@duffeldaisy - Lovely idea. What about those who haven't got space for two weeks worth of food? Or the means to physically get 2 weeks of food in one go? Who exactly is an essential worker? Are people under house arrest for those two weeks? Are we permanently closing borders?

It's not doable.

I don't understand why there hasn't been more notice and government support given to other ideas for testing, like this smartphone ap and fingerprick blood test which can identify the virus much earlier than other tests, with a high accuracy, and almost instantly. But we seem to have to crowdfund our way out of this pandemic.

www.buckinghamtoday.co.uk/health/coronavirus/adstock-scientist-pioneers-30-second-covid-test-3012186

We may very well have gone beyond the point where a properly functioning one could be effective, but I do understand why people want to try.

@MilkTwoSugarsThanks
Oh it’s need a lot of planning at local level, too, to support people who needed deliveries or other help. Not saying it’d be easy to organise!
But big ideas aren’t always completely impossible. It’s like if you break down the idea of evacuation during WW2, it’d sound like madness, but it saved thousands of lives. This would only be 2 weeks of difficulty, then we’d have something close to a safe environment again.

It's the covid equivalent of security theatre.

Fucking up everything, to little effect, just to look like you're doing something.

Unfortunately, this isn't just holidays being made more shite, it's the obliteration of entire economies throughout the West.

We may very well have gone beyond the point where a properly functioning one could be effective,

I agree.

I also wonder whether people avoid getting tested so as to avoid the 14 day quarantine?

Germany's track and trace system is also not working well anymore.

@Sonnenscheins

We may very well have gone beyond the point where a properly functioning one could be effective,

I agree.

I also wonder whether people avoid getting tested so as to avoid the 14 day quarantine?

Yes of course some do. Not a great shock when millions of people potentially will lose money by doing so, will piss off their employer and possibly lose hours because of it, or will have some kind of childcare crisis if they do test positive. Or all three.