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Original poster

NHS Test & Trace have contacted me - need to take DS to school!

235 replies

SaintVal · 10/06/2021 07:27

Apologies if this has been done to death but I have just been told by NHS test and trace to self isolate for ten days as someone I have been in contact with has tested positive! I have no idea who this is so can only assume it's someone who checked into the same restaurant as me last Thursday. So... how do I get my DS6 to school? Single parent. Nightmare!

OP posts:
Original poster
SaintVal · 10/06/2021 08:17

The alert was from the NHS Test and Trace app, the official one that updates you as and when restrictions are lifted/changed etc. My son wasn't with me at the restaurant. It was the first time I'd eaten out in ages. The only other places I've been to are my Dad's and the supermarket. I've been working from home since March last year. I just checked with my manager whom I was with last Thursday and she's not been told to self isolate. I'm not sure who would have listed me as a contact. People who have my phone number are close friends/family and none of them have tested positive. I'll try and follow this up as seems bizarre.

OP posts:
Original poster
SaintVal · 10/06/2021 08:18

And btw, I've had both AZ jabs.

OP posts:
Original poster
SaintVal · 10/06/2021 08:20

Would it be a direct contact or a friend of a friend ...?

OP posts:
ILookAtTheFloor · 10/06/2021 08:23

If it's the app just delete it.

I did.

Naughty me.

DeathToCovid · 10/06/2021 08:24

I wouldn’t be self isolating in your situation, I’d wear my mask and SD, avoid as many places as I can but go about my daily life, the whole thing is a joke now. You’ve been fully Vaccinated and it doesn’t sound like anyone close to you has tested positive either. You can’t just shut away for 10 days when you’re a single parent with a young child, maybe in lockdown when the schools were all off but not now!

PurpleDaisies · 10/06/2021 08:26

The app situation is different-if you’d been phoned legally you would have to isolate. The app is only guidance. You should still be doing it though. I’m glad you’ve got a solution for today. What a pain.

WrongKindOfFace · 10/06/2021 08:26

Have you left your phone anywhere? Or sat in traffic for a while? That could trigger an app alert, even if you weren’t exposed to anyone.

You also don’t have to isolate if told to by the app for this reason.

ILookAtTheFloor · 10/06/2021 08:27

@SaintVal

Would it be a direct contact or a friend of a friend ...?
The app doesn't know if both parties (infected and contacts) were outside, whether there are walls between you etc etc. Not fit for purpose in my view.
dementedpixie · 10/06/2021 08:28

@SaintVal

The alert was from the NHS Test and Trace app, the official one that updates you as and when restrictions are lifted/changed etc. My son wasn't with me at the restaurant. It was the first time I'd eaten out in ages. The only other places I've been to are my Dad's and the supermarket. I've been working from home since March last year. I just checked with my manager whom I was with last Thursday and she's not been told to self isolate. I'm not sure who would have listed me as a contact. People who have my phone number are close friends/family and none of them have tested positive. I'll try and follow this up as seems bizarre.
The app works on Bluetooth so it could be someone you were close to in a supermarket or anywhere else you may have been recently. It could be a cumulative 15 minutes where you had regular short periods in range that add up to 15 minutes rather than a straight 15 minutes in close proximity.

It will not be someone who has given your details, it is likely to be a stranger who you were close to while out and about. It's the way the app works; it picks up contacts that you don't know

Isadora2007 · 10/06/2021 08:28

Definitely not accurate then if you’ve not been out. And it needs to be direct contact not friend of a friend etc. So perhaps if your ex can help today you could chase it up? Or If your boss wasn’t contacted it isn’t the restaurant so you probably don’t need to isolate at all.
If you’ve been contacted you should have a case number for someone to check the details.
Delete the app!

Rosehip10 · 10/06/2021 08:28

If it is an app alert rather than a call from test and trace, I would just do the school run.

CovoidOfAllHumanity · 10/06/2021 08:28

I've deleted the stupid app now
It told my neighbours to self isolate when DH and I had Covid because we have a terraced house and it pinged them through the wall. We had not been in any contact at all and didn't name them as contacts.

If the proper track and trace people contact you to say you are an official contact then I would 100% abide by that despite being vaccinated etc but just the silly app I do not believe that is reliable.

Hoppinggreen · 10/06/2021 08:29

I don’t have the app and I don’t check in at restaurants etc for this very reason.
Unless the person I have apparently close contact with is named and I know I have had close contact with then I will not be isolating.

chickenfoot · 10/06/2021 08:31

@SaintVal

The alert was from the NHS Test and Trace app, the official one that updates you as and when restrictions are lifted/changed etc. My son wasn't with me at the restaurant. It was the first time I'd eaten out in ages. The only other places I've been to are my Dad's and the supermarket. I've been working from home since March last year. I just checked with my manager whom I was with last Thursday and she's not been told to self isolate. I'm not sure who would have listed me as a contact. People who have my phone number are close friends/family and none of them have tested positive. I'll try and follow this up as seems bizarre.
I had the same the other week. Was told to isolate for 7 days by the app, and was told the date I’d been in contact with a person who’d tested positive. By contact it meant within 2 metres of someone for more than 15 mins. That day I’d been to a restaurant with a friend ( who’d not tested positive and didn’t have the app) and to a spin class. I figured my phone must have picked up the contact via Bluetooth as I’d had the app running - and it was someone at a nearby table in the restaurant or on the gym. Confused by your notification that it says you’ve to isolate for 10 days tho when your exposure was last week
SlipperyDippery · 10/06/2021 08:31

So PHE can identify outbreaks at venues ans send alerts to people who may have been there at the same time as the positive person, advising them they might have been in contact and to ensure they abide by current social distancing guidelines. It's the contact tracing part of the app (which. Am be turned off) which can detect close contact and tell you to self isolate. If you go into the app, click on about this app, then how this app works, then what the app does, there's lots of info about how each part of the app works and what can happen as a result of them

Thank you, I didn’t realise that!

dementedpixie · 10/06/2021 08:32

OP doesn't know when the exposure was and was presuming it was at the restaurant (it wasn't if she's been told to isolate for 10 days!).

More likely to be a stranger in the supermarket tbh

megletthesecond · 10/06/2021 08:33

I'd wear a mask and walk to school. You'll be outside and away from people won't you? Chances of outdoors transmission are vanishingly low.

MonsterMash2210 · 10/06/2021 08:37

With the app I believe there have been cases where it’s picked up that someone’s neighbour who has tested positive, even if they haven’t seen them let alone been in close contact.

This is why workplaces have asked people to turn the app off. The app has no concept of walls or floors, it goes by Bluetooth.

If you know your neighbours well enough I would ask them.

chickenfoot · 10/06/2021 08:38

@dementedpixie

OP doesn't know when the exposure was and was presuming it was at the restaurant (it wasn't if she's been told to isolate for 10 days!).

More likely to be a stranger in the supermarket tbh

OP go to settings on the app and select ‘other data’ and it’ll tell you the date you were exposed to the contact
Original poster
SaintVal · 10/06/2021 08:44

@chickenfoot just clicked on 'other data' and it says the exposure was yesterday! I did school run, co op, post office, school pick up then straight home. I didn't hang about anywhere. This is ridiculous!

OP posts:
Lalliebelle · 10/06/2021 08:55

Perhaps it's a glitch in the app then, I thought there were some problems with it mistakenly giving alerts. Aren't we only meant to isolate if test and trace ring us? I'm probably not the best person though as I only found out (on MN) yesterday that it isn't track and trace (apparently this is a post office service Grin )

ColettesEarrings · 10/06/2021 08:56

Just delete the damn thing, it's a pile of shite and not legally binding.

nordica · 10/06/2021 08:57

Somewhere like the Post Office seems likely if you were in a queue for a while - although in terms of covid risk, it's probably not very high up on the list of situations where you would be likely to get infected if you're in a queue with a mask on.

Thefaceofboe · 10/06/2021 09:04

I agree with deleting the app. If it’s genuine (doesn’t look like it can be) someone will phone you. I had 3 phone calls the first day of my isolation, all telling me the same thing Hmm

Katie517 · 10/06/2021 09:10

Why do people still have this useless app? A contact is being within 2m if someone for 15 mins or more, this won’t happen when running errands like OP has said. Turn it off or delete it and get on with your life. People are letting a useless piece of technology override their common sense. You know you haven’t been in close contact with anyone so therefore you are no risk to anyone so go above your business as usual!