How to contact Test and Trace???

[CherryBunsAndLollies]

Someone who I know that has tested positive has given my name to test and trace ‘to be on the safe side’. I know for a fact the two conversations we had this week were over 2m distance apart.
Therefore I shouldn’t need to self-isolate but have received a text from NHS T+T telling me I’m legally required to do so.
Has anyone managed to contact the tracers back and put up a defense? If so, how??

How long were you having a conversation for and were you wearing masks?

This is tricky, hope you get sorted though, there must be some way to contact them, but guess if the other person has given your details might be difficult to get out of.

Test and trace should call you if you have been named as a contact, so you can discuss it with them then.

Our conversations were a maximum of 5 minutes, definitely more than 2 m. I was wearing a mask the whole time, she wasn’t.

I hope they do call, I’m worried that they won’t follow the text up because I’m over 18 and I followed the text link and gave further information (just in case there was the option to ‘opt out’... there wasn’t...)

I don't think there is an appeals process - if she has given them information that makes them consider you a close contact, then you have to isolate.

Even if they do call you, it's not like this is a situation where you're alleging she's maliciously naming you when you haven't had contact - it's just her estimating a distance at under 2m, and you estimating it at over 2m.

It's not like either of you have evidence, and it's not like the call handler can gather any evidence of exactly what distance you stood at.

Yeah i think if youve been named by your friend, then theres no coming back from that.

Imagine if everyone names as a close contact wanted to argue their case, explain why they shouldn't have to, would wast so much time and make the while system pointless.

And then there'll be people who dont know who has named them, are they allowed to phone up and interrogate the person about why they have to stay in and to find out who has named them?

Tbh track and trace probably wont be even able to confirm it is off the back of your friend naming you, due to privacy rules.

A couple of people I know including bil have called them and when circumstances were explained they were advised differently.

It’s very frustrating when I have taken care with precautions and mitigation’s to put colleagues and my dp under extra pressure. Plus all the exam classes that I teach will suffer not having me in the room...
@fantasmasgoria1 how did bil make contact with them?
The positive case called me straight away to let me know she’d given them my name. She said she felt under pressure from her tracer to think of more and more people

@fantasmasgoria1

A couple of people I know including bil have called them and when circumstances were explained they were advised differently.

Really, who did they call?

When I was called by T&T as a contact they didn't even have the information available to them as to who the contact was.

*mitigations.
That was an autocorrect!

The person involved in my story hasn't tested positive and is only being tested because he is part of the ONS study, but I was upset when he told me he had given my details as a contact.
He is shielding and has left the house only twice since March (medical appointments). In summer he went into the garden but only once when I was there - he sat by the house and I was on the patio at the top of the garden - about 6m away. However, when he gave my details as a contact this was for when I dropped in a birthday present - left it on the doorstep for his wife to take it in and quarantine it - and we spoke briefly in sign language through the (closed) window. When I asked why he had named me he said he had nothing else to tell the researcher - he had seen noone else that week.
I have been so careful never to be less than 2m from anyone unless just walking past and, like you, I would be so cross and upset to be told to isolate because someone else misrepresented a situation.

In my experience, the tracer doesn't ask "who are your close contacts" and leave you to make a decision on whether they need to isolate.

They ask about everywhere you've been and everyone you've seen - then they ask questions to judge the risk - inside or outside, masks or not, how close, how long.

People aren't always great at judging distances either - so person A might think "we were definitely always 2m apart" and person B might think "we were about 2m apart, possibly less at times".

You can’t opt out, if your band has been given as a contact you legally have to isolate. You don’t have a choice.

name not band!

My children were put into the app as named contacts when ex's BIL tested positive. All done without telling me. They hadn't been in contact with him for the 5 days prior to testing positive so they were out of the window. I spoke to school and NHS 111and we agreed there was no risk so they didn't isolate. I did also speak to someone at the local COVID testing centre (I was able to confirm they hadn't given the information to my ex he claimed they had). I couldn't get through to test and trace direct though and as my number wasn't put in the app they never called me.
So don't know how this helps other than to say I couldn't get to speak to anyone at test and trace but I was able to find out what I needed to not isolate children unnecessarily because ex and his family are all divvies!

I need to ask him again because it was a couple of weeks ago. He just said he had been informed he needs to self isolate due to contact with someone. He called about it and was told he was fine due to the circumstances.

@Scarby9

The person involved in my story hasn't tested positive and is only being tested because he is part of the ONS study, but I was upset when he told me he had given my details as a contact. He is shielding and has left the house only twice since March (medical appointments). In summer he went into the garden but only once when I was there - he sat by the house and I was on the patio at the top of the garden - about 6m away. However, when he gave my details as a contact this was for when I dropped in a birthday present - left it on the doorstep for his wife to take it in and quarantine it - and we spoke briefly in sign language through the (closed) window. When I asked why he had named me he said he had nothing else to tell the researcher - he had seen noone else that week. I have been so careful never to be less than 2m from anyone unless just walking past and, like you, I would be so cross and upset to be told to isolate because someone else misrepresented a situation.

Can you avoid seeing this friend until the vaccine is fully rolled out? I wouldn’t go near his house. Surely you’re not automatically a probably contact for all future times that he might test positive?

Isolating is awful, isolating when you’re not truly a contact is completely ridiculous.

Update.
I received a routine call to check I was self-isolating (I was) and enquired about whether I should be given the precautions I was taking and my recollection of the contact.
The enquiry was escalated to a supervisor who also consulted PHE. They looked back at the original notes from T+T submitted by the positive case and now there is a note on my file saying I don’t need to self-isolate and shouldn’t have been asked to do so in the first place as the notes about length and distance of conversation were consistent with what I was telling them.
Thanks to everyone who responded.

Excellent outcome!

This exact situation happened with my husband, he did get to speak to track and trace and explain he was outdoors, more than 2 meters away from person who tested positive AND he had a mask on, but was told he still had to isolate as he could have caught it from the paperwork that was handed between them. Ridiculous really when we were led to believe it was only those within 2 meters with no mask that would require isolation