If you’re in Liverpool, why on earth would you get tested?

[guitarstringseadgbe]

I just don’t understand why healthy people would get tested and encourage more lockdowns?

Anyone in Liverpool? What are people’s thoughts on this mass testing?

Social duty? Also bloody sick of tier 3.

Liverpool is a very caring city - people do tend to look out for one another.

I'm in Liverpool. Apparently there are different test centres for those presenting with Covid symptoms and those who are not . This is to limit transmission in queues.

@3littlewords

I think the main people who will volunteer are those who are either financially secure, wfh, furloughed or know they'll be guaranteed full sick pay if required to isolate, and the same for their family members. Anyone who cant afford for them or someone else in the household to isolate will not volunteer for a test without symptoms. Morals and "doing the right thing " are put on the back burner for anyone who can't afford to put food on the table to do it

Exactly this.

I agree with a poster who said queuing to get tested whilst stood in a line next to other people you could well catch the Covid.

It’s a good idea. In reality I’m not sure about it tbh.

@Hall84

I'm in Liverpool. Whilst I agree that it is the right thing to do I feel like we've been thrown to the wolves. Many people can't work from home (i.e the jaguar/landrover plant) or aren't in the kind of job that will pay them to isolate whilst waiting on test results or for a 14 day quarantine. I also have serious concerns about the number of false positives reported. I appreciate that this is a sweeping generalisation (and probably inaccurate) but I can't help but think that somewhere in the home counties where people can work at home or have better company benefits may have been a better guinea pig.

Liverpool aren't the first place to do this. I don't understand why everyone makes out like they are. And you don't have to isolate while waiting for the results of a test unless you have symptoms.

I agree with a poster who said queuing to get tested whilst stood in a line next to other people you could well catch the Covid.

It's a bit weird when the rest of the country has been told to stay at home and stay away form other households. It should have been home testing kits.

I’m so pleased to see the City stepped up and the sites have been busy. Reading the Liverpool Echo comments full of conspiracy theories gets you worried!
This should have been done so much earlier, everywhere. The only way to figure this out is to have thorough testing.

God. This thread is depressing.
There's no point. You can be negative today, positive tomorrow, shedding virus yesterday and clear today. Add in the variability of the test and the lack of any follow up and you have the good people of Liverpool being played for fools.

Everyone looked like they were masked and socially distanced

Liverpool is the first place

Other cities have been offered testing but in now where near the capacity

We had 6 centres open today with another 10 centres openin tomorrow

Other cities had 3/4 pop up centres and defo not the army!

A tradesman came to my house today and said his DW had been very unwell and had tested positive a fortnight ago. Two days later, he came down with a cough and loss of taste and smell. He refused to be tested, and carried on working because he can't afford to have a positive result.

I was a bit unsettled when he told me this (I'd been talking to him for 20 mins in the kitchen by then, both of us unmasked) - but by the same token, I couldn't afford not to work if I tested positive, either. So I can understand why he wouldn't do it.

The problem is that so many people fall between the cracks and have to carry on working unless they're actually dead. It's easy for people who WFH or who are furloughed or who are on benefits or who qualify for other handouts to say that people should stay the fuck at home - but if the choice is either potentially spreading Covid or having no income at all, I can see why people would choose not to have a test, for fear of it being positive.

@Jakey056

God. This thread is depressing. There's no point. You can be negative today, positive tomorrow, shedding virus yesterday and clear today. Add in the variability of the test and the lack of any follow up and you have the good people of Liverpool being played for fools.

It's regular testing that would make the difference, a one off test is good for one day. It's not like you're getting a vaccine, or a test to see if you have antibodies.

Look at the Premier League where all the players and staff are tested every 2 or 3 days. Some still test positive but when they do, it's easier to isolate them in time.

Jakey- if just 1% of people tested positive today and they isolate then it will help

HOW do people STILL NOT GET THE 7 DAY ASYMPTOMATIC PHASE???!!!!!!

FFS.

Birmingham did a door knocking programme giving out tests to those in areas where testing was low. Errors happened though and its on hold for now.

The health authorities test sewage water for covid bbc article explaining here AND see entrances into hospital and ICUs so you cannot avoid lockdowns or being in tier x by avoiding personal testing. They will still get the overall picture.

Personal testing allows you to stop the spreading in its track though, as carriers and their entourage can be put into quarantine to stop them passing the virus on. Yes, it is massively inconvenient at a personal level, I understand this (had to isolate, I am self-employed).

But the logic of: don't test and then we look rosey is a fallacy.

For the collective good, as the Liverpudlian chap interviewed on R4 on my way home tonight said.
I would do this, definitely.

It's easy for people who WFH to say people should stay the fuck at home - but if the choice is either potentially spreading Covid or having no income at all,I can see why people would choose not to have a test.

Remember the story of the cleaner back in March? They were put under pressure to keep cleaning what were empty offices in London (as all the staff were sent away to WFH). He caught Covid (probably from the office) but he kept going into the office even though he was really unwell because he feared being made homeless. He collapsed on the job and died of Covid soon after.

@ktp100

HOW do people STILL NOT GET THE 7 DAY ASYMPTOMATIC PHASE???!!!!!!

FFS.

You mean incubation? Will that show up on a test?

@Mymumsthebest

I'm in Liverpool and got tested today at a walk in test centre. It was a swab test that I did myself.

There was a huge variety of different ages of people in the queue including lots of teenagers/kids with their parents. Queue was all socially distanced, people wearing masks and almost all outdoors so felt safe.

I am a health care worker and my hospital hasnt yet started testing staff routinely. I was a bit nervous in case I tested positive and then couldn't go to work as I would put burden on colleagues......but much better than giving them COVID unknowingly!

As someone else said it doesnt need everyone in the city to get tested, just enough of us to find a chunk of the asymptomatic cases would help. Mass testing alone isnt going to bring the cases to zero in liverpool but it's a start.

This was my experience too today. I have to add that the military ( mostly young men in their early 20's) were excellent; polite, professional and efficient. I felt quite moved by the numbers of people of all ages queuing patiently in the cold and dark tonight. Some were single parents with their prams at the end of the evening when it was quiet. I felt proud of our city.

I was tested this evening, at a centre thats on the border of a not so naice area /next to a naice v desirable area (Lifestyles Garston). Mostly mc couples with children and mc older/retired people queueing ( i.e. probably people with nothing financially significant to lose if +ive, no north face scallies in sight). Hoping it gets a good grip of whats going on locally so we can start to find a way out of this ...

Negative result texted within half an hour 😊

Would be interested to hear from anyone else locally who was tested in one of the other 5 centres?

I also noticed a lot of people heading towards the exhibition centre at Kings Dock - looked like a "normal" day, e.g. when tourists are heading to the Albert Dock, so Id presume theres a significant uptake in testing being done there?

I’m not going to at the moment I have pregnancy issues with my pelvis though so the wait will be too painful and too close to others

@Redbirds You should feel proud. Thank you so much to everyone in Liverpool who is willing to participate in this.

@bellinisurge

They are trialling a mass testing programme. Which appears to be failing but that's another issue. Why would you not want to be part of a trial that, if it works, means the economy can reopen with more confidence?

I thought it only started today, how do you know it's failing already?

Because I think it's a worthwhile experiment and I'm prepared to contribute to it. I'm prepared to accept that there has to be an element of trial and error in figuring out how to deal with this.

I've seen too many people suffer because of this virus, as have we all. Why wouldn't you contribute what you can?

I hope that those who feel they can get tested do but I also hope that those who feel they cant for whatever reason aren't judged either, after all this testing is voluntary not compulsory at the moment.