Mass testing in Liverpool

[MrsSiba]

www.liverpoolecho.co.uk/news/liverpool-news/everyone-liverpool-tested-covid-19-19210041

Announced that from Thursday everyone working or living in Liverpool will be tested under a pilot scheme for mass testing.

No compulsory isolation for anyone refusing a test.

I can't comprehend how this government will sort out the logistics of testing half a million people judging by the fiasco that is track and trace.

They are testing everyone living and working in the city 3littlewords

Not sure if it's just for Liverpool PleasantVille. I read it in the Guardian this morning

I believe the 7 day isolation is only for those asymptomatic people in Liverpool who voluntarily have a test. It’s to encourage compliance.
Also those asking how they will achieve it, I believe the army are being brought in to run extra testing sites.

Luton did this in the summer. They encouraged anyone who lived in the borough or around the borough with an LU postcode or came in to Luton for any reason to have a test, whether they had symptoms or not. Opened tests centres everywhere

It's not new (except the rapid tests)

However IMO it did work and the numbers came down.

@XiCi

They are testing everyone living and working in the city 3littlewords

People will be prioritised its not open to everyone straight away

@megletthesecond

I hope it works. They should do every city and large town.

They should be doing universities too, especially those students living in halls/flats of up to 20 sharing a kitchen where covid will spread like wildfire.

Its a pretty mixed bag of responses on the echo website, the people of Liverpool historically have a lack of trust in the government (Hillsborough, the miners strikes etc) some believe its to show increased numbers in the area leading to longer restrictions or to paint the city in a bad light.
It also has a big working class community, some will be against testing as they simply can't afford to isolate if tested positive without having symptoms

Does anyone know if it's the whole city region or just Liverpool? Would be interesting if they locked us all down as one, but did this pilot in Liverpool. I'd be happy to do it, would be great to help bring our rates down quicker. I do realise I'm fortunate that myself, DH and DD would all be paid in isolation though

They should be doing universities too, especially those students living in halls/flats of up to 20 sharing a kitchen where covid will spread like wildfire.

Most of them have probably already had it. That's the benefit of huge halls of residences - the virus transmission is very efficient. My dc at Uni tells me that almost everyone they know has had it. Many with very mild or no symptoms.

Maybe that's why rates among that age group are starting to come down again?

Echo article said first Liverpool then if it is successful then rolled out to city region.

Would definitely get tested if it comes to the city region, however based on the fb comments on the article can't see it being a success.

@Susiesue61 it would make sense to test the city region as the surrounding areas like wirral Knowsley and St Helens all have a higher rate than Liverpool itself but as @peachsquish says feedback from the community is not great on the whole

@Sonnenscheins

They should be doing universities too, especially those students living in halls/flats of up to 20 sharing a kitchen where covid will spread like wildfire.

Most of them have probably already had it. That's the benefit of huge halls of residences - the virus transmission is very efficient. My dc at Uni tells me that almost everyone they know has had it. Many with very mild or no symptoms.

Maybe that's why rates among that age group are starting to come down again?

At my son's Uni, they've had less than 500 positive cases from nearly 20,000 students/staff. So I think it's highly unlikely that most have had it. Maybe that's because most are in halls/flats of only 8 people and the communal kitchens are tiny, with just a small table and 4 chairs, so the flatmates aren't actually socialising with each other much at all.

Some unis have much larger halls/flats (12,14, 20, common), meaning larger kitchens, some with sofas/tvs etc., so there'll be more chances of covid being passed around the flat if they've somewhere to hang out other than their bedrooms.

I think it would be a very foolish mistake to think that most Uni students have had covid and therefore they don't need to be part of a testing system, and are safe to travel etc. They're all in one place on campus, or close to it, so it would be very easy to get them all tested.

Also in Liverpool. I don’t think that many people will get tested, maybe only those who can work from home or those who will be furloughed from Thursday anyway. Many people won’t qualify for the £500 grant and can’t afford to run the risk of not being paid for 10 days (or even 7 if they do reduce the quarantine period)!

Christ, everyone is so negative all the time - this is exactly what people have been asking for, and is a proven way of getting numbers down, and everyone is still fucking moaning!

It's what's been needed for some time, so can't criticise them for trying. If we don't do, we don't learn. Sometimes failure is needed to move forward - NASA uses this principle rather than just not trying if something is difficult (before anyone says it bviously this doesn't apply where there could be bad consequences to health)

I'm Greater Manc, they aren't testing me unless I have symptoms and I won't sign for T&T either.
Each to their own and that.

It's pretty pointless without the other half of the test. Knowing who currently had the virus is a party of the story. Without also testing for who has had it - the antibody test - then the picture is incomplete. It's like doing a jigsaw with a random half of the pieces removed.

I’m in the metro region but don’t qualify because otherwise I’d be happy to. Seems strange to pick a city where cases are declining though.

I’m not entirely unconvinced that it’s not another stick to beat us with and we we’ll stay in tier 3/or whatever they call it come December.

@Devilesko

I'm Greater Manc, they aren't testing me unless I have symptoms and I won't sign for T&T either. Each to their own and that.

There isn't, as far as I can see, any suggestion of any element of compulsion, no need to get on your high horse about it.

I have to say I don't understand the point of it. the testing is only ever as good as the day it is done one -someone could be negative on one day and asymptomatic but positive two days later. If the idea is to get better data e.g. an idea of how prevalent the virus is and how dangerous i.e. what % end up in hospital / ICU fine but as a control strategy I don't see how it would work. No way would test and trace cope. And I wouldn't volunteer to be tested if I didn't have symptoms tbh.

Very obvious why they've chosen Liverpool to trial this despite declining numbers - they're guinea pigs. All the issues can be identified before they repeat this in any cities/regions they actually care about- ie ones who may in the future actually vote Tory. They know the whole of Liverpool despises the government anyway so no harm done when it goes wrong and any problems can be blamed on "typical scousers"

I hope they test the people who test positive with these tests with a more specific PCR test - to confirm the diagnosis.

@IwishIwasyoda the point is to pick people up when they are presymptomatic so they don’t spread it round to more people. No ones saying testing is going to pick up every single case but the more transmission chains we can stop then the lower numbers get.

What are the tests available?
I’d read there were two tests available.
And how reliable are they?

The Echo say it’s the usual test and another quick turnaround test. I’ve heard that they are testing for antibodies as well but I haven’t seen that confirmed anywhere.

Starting on Friday.

I’m in LCR so not eligible , but we have had a new centre open this week and our cases are declining, so I think they are lining it up to test everywhere else.