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Original poster

Does Test and Trace put you off going for a PCR test?

114 replies

flashbac · 14/10/2021 18:29

I find the calls from Test and Trace very annoying, unnecessarily lengthy and inefficient and intrusive. I regret sending DD for a PCR and will think twice before doing another if it means no one else is put at risk. Anyone else?
I mean, it's just going through the motions isn't it? Seen as the government don't give a shit anyway.

OP posts:
Tinysnickers · 14/10/2021 22:39

@Nowmum43

Both DD's are positive and we only had that first initial phone call and then someone called round to check on us. There hasn't been any other call at all.
God, do they act turn up at your house???
Tinysnickers · 14/10/2021 22:40

*actually

AvoidDairy · 14/10/2021 22:40

Are you even supposed to answer the door if Covid positive?

FindingMeno · 14/10/2021 23:00

I wonder that @AvoidDairy.
Especially when you haven't brushed your hair in 2 days and you're in your nightshirt.

AvoidDairy · 15/10/2021 07:03

Let all make those nosey track and trace, clipboard holding wankers really sorry they knocked our doors. Ta da, this is what I look like when I don’t expect to see anyone for 10 days.

TheVampiresWife · 15/10/2021 07:38

It was one of the reasons DH and I didn't take PCRs after positive LFTs, yes. He wfh and his job requires him to be completely focused so answering the phone to T&T umpteen times a day was not possible.

We hadn't been out of the house for over a week (apart from my one brief visit to a supermarket which is where I must've caught it, despite it being practically empty and me only being in there for ten minutes). We don't have visitors, we don't have any friends or family, so there was nobody for them to trace. We just isolated for ten days. Thankfully we were both asymptomatic though!

MegaClutterSlut · 15/10/2021 09:49

I've had a few calls, texts every other day telling me I have to isolate or I'll get fined, its annoying. Dd and dh were the first to be infected then me, he kept repeating its my duty to inform them I have covid and they must isolate as they've been in contact with meConfused and who did I think infected me, dd or dh..... he asked me this a few times but of course I don't know!

Sweetpeasaremadeforbees · 15/10/2021 10:44

Quite worrying to hear how many people are relying on lateral flows. They are completely useless we all had multiple negatives before a positive PCR

Well judging by the news the LFTs are proving a lot more reliable than some PCRs at the moment! (As we've been saying on here for weeks now.)

ParkheadParadise · 15/10/2021 10:47

I had one call after testing positive. Told me they wouldn't be calling back.
Also had 2 emails.

CharlotteRose90 · 15/10/2021 10:59

They are absolute idiots. Me and my mum got a text saying we’d been in close contact after a flight back. We’re double vaccinated so don’t need to isolate and we’ve had 2 pcr tests each that are negative. Yet they keep ringing and ringing me despite being advised the above. Ive blocked the numbers now.

Icytundra · 15/10/2021 11:07

I don't understand why they call if you've already filled in everything on the website? Seems pointless?

Tinysnickers · 15/10/2021 11:25

Well I got a positive on Wednesday evening and still haven't heard from them. Which is annoying because the stupid website has my isolation period wrong and I want them to fix it.

Sweetpeasaremadeforbees · 15/10/2021 11:25

I think they're just trying to justify their employment.

SandyStarfish · 15/10/2021 12:57

@XenoBitch how can they tell you in advance they're coming if you don't answer the phone?

Yes, the script we HAVE to read is boring. But it makes my day when I get a friendly, polite person on the other end. People are so rude these days. Whatever happened to being nice?? I tend to have a nice chat with those people, but they are not the majority. We're just trying to get on with our job.

Original poster
flashbac · 15/10/2021 14:41

@SandyStarfish I think it's the intrusiveness of it all and the fact that it's a private company (not NHS) that runs it. I don't trust it.
So I told them I'm going to fill the form in online. Just tried to do it and it wants names of all DD's classmates and who she came into contact with at school so I gave up. Do you think they'll ring again?

OP posts:
SandyStarfish · 15/10/2021 14:57

Well, I work for the Welsh one, which is run by our local council, so maybe we do it differently.

AvoidDairy · 15/10/2021 15:48

I told the guy that rang today my covid throat was too sore to talk. He got the message, be interesting to see if he calls back.

BlackInk · 15/10/2021 16:37

I've yet to experience T&T – DS tested positive today and they've already tried to call twice when I was picking up DD from school. They haven't called back again yet...

I would do a PCR though, however annoying the calls are. If you don't get a positive PCR result it won't go on your medical record that you've had Covid which could cause problems if you have any ongoing effects that you need to seek medical help for.

MrsAvocet · 15/10/2021 17:56

@SandyStarfish the issue is largely the system, not the individuals who are working for T&T, though the wide range in experiences does suggest that there are some callers who are far better at their job than others. Whether that is down to training, personal qualities or both I don't know, but there are definite differences. I definitely engaged better with some callers than others.
But the bottom line is that when you are in bed feeling more unwell than you ever have in your life and you get no less than three calls in one day, asking the same, long winded questions, it is hard to feel happy about it. One fundamental flaw in the system seemed to be that it was completely incapable of identifying that MrsAvocet who was identified as a close contact as AvocetJunior was also a close contact of MrAvocet and also in fact the same MrsAvocet who had just had a positive PCR herself. This led to replication of work, unnecessary disturbance of ill people and, in my experience, incorrect information being disseminated on occasion.
The questionnaire reads like it was written by a Year 8 child having their first go at using Surveymonkey and it's hard to believe that anyone with significant IT experience approved it. Plus we know that this has cost the taxpayer vast sums of money so it isn't suprising people are angry and upset. It isn't anything personal to most callers - not the polite ones anyway.

AvoidDairy · 15/10/2021 18:07

What I don’t understand is why sick people have to be put through all this but schools are no longer identifying close contacts in school and asking them to get PCR tests. If they actually wanted to reduce cases this would be much more effective. The first call I got the lady asked me to provide details of everyone in school I would consider DS had had close contact with. Eh? What am I phychic?

Frazzled2207 · 15/10/2021 19:04

I've been so put off by these stories. If any of us get a positive LFT I'll just assume we have it and self isolate and make everyone in the house do daily LFTs.
I do know some employers insist on official notification from T&T that you are positive to let you take sick leave/wfh etc which is the only reason that I would go and get a PCR however luckily I am my own boss so no worries in that regard. Is a complete joke!

backaftera2yearbreak · 15/10/2021 19:17

I had a great time with test and trace. What time did you have breakfast in the hotel. What time did you leave the hotel. What time did you get on the tube. What time did you get off and change. Which shop did you go into first on Oxford street. What time did you go in. Where did you go next and at what time. I had been shopping in London for 2 days! No possible way to answer all of those questions accurately.

HammerToFall · 15/10/2021 19:26

DS tested positive around a month ago. we got one call in the morning to tell us of the positive result and ask how he was and that was it. didn't ask for contacts or anything. i don't know if this is because it was a PCR done through esc as i work for the nhs. i was negative and was allowed to go to work on labour and delivery as long as i had a lateral flow for ten days. i thought that was bad that i was allowed in the ward with a positive case at home.

Maryann1975 · 15/10/2021 19:43

Dc was out in town for about an hour with friend last weekend, friend since tested positive, ds got 7 calls from track and trace, while he was at school, didn’t answer any of them, but did google the number and text me panicking that t+t were trying to get hold of him. I told him not to answer That number until He got home, but reassured him that we would book a test for that night. Was asked for feedback from my experience. All I could say was to stop hassling children while they are at school. I get they don’t it is a child’s number, but honestly, 7 missed calls between 9.30 and 3 is daft!

Every day for about two weeks he has come home From school to say That someone new has tested positive, quite often someone he sits by or is in the same class as, so definitely close contacts. We haven’t heard anything At all about being close contacts. The whole thing is ridiculous now. Shopping/sitting on a bench outside with a milkshake for an hour = close contact. Sitting at a school table for several hours = not a close contact.

DancingQueen85 · 16/10/2021 14:03

Our experience with test and trace today has been horrendous. They do not give a shit. Extremely unhelpful people many of whom have very poor English.
We have had about ten calls from them today. Each time each of us tests positive they contact the rest of the family to say that they are a close contact, even though that person is already isolating with covid. Complete waste of time.
They have written the date down wrong or when our DC had theirs first symptoms and now they need to isolate for 2 extra days. Apparently it can't be changed and no one seems to care that my poor child who has already not left the house for a week will he trapped inside for longer than is necessary