Is testing being phased out now by stealth ?

[Twinklingstarface]

Is the Gvt easing us out of this pandemic by testing less so positive case numbers appear to have dropped in a few weeks? I’m sure with the lack of tests employees and pupils will still need to attend work rather than assuming a positive result in absence of a test. All chemists here are out of stock so is this the beginning of the end of asymptomatic isolations?

@UnmentionedElephantDildo

Living with the virus will, sooner or later, mean no restrictions, no community testing, and no media reporting of figures.

I reckon if they get through the next month
without a sharp rise in deaths or total nhs collapse, it will be rather sooner.

Ds's school has provided us with LFTs and I got some from my local sports centre so we're OK for them. Dh tested positive on one and we're all isolating now.

3 of us got negative PCRs and ironically only dh hasn't had his result back.

That’s very interesting it sounds like measures will be phased out over next three months. Then if testing goes do masks go also?

Might all be over by March then ?
Let's hope so.
Hating the testing more than anything else. Be pleased to see the back of that.

[quote VaguelyInteresting]@UnmentionedElephantDildo

Living with the virus will, sooner or later, mean no restrictions, no community testing, and no media reporting of figures.

I reckon if they get through the next month
without a sharp rise in deaths or total nhs collapse, it will be rather sooner.[/quote]
I'll be shouted at for doom-mongering, but there is no sign that this will be 'sooner'

Yes, I think there will be significant easing of restrictions as soon a possible in the spring. So we can make the best of the summer ebbing.

But I'm really not holding my breath that that will hold when there are new variants - which us bound to happen. Omicron went from newly identified in South Africa to 100,000 cases a day here in just over a month.

We really need to learn how to use restrictions well. It's the only chance we've got of avoiding boom/bust (with rather more emphasis on the 'bust')

The daily testing rate is pretty much at the highest it has ever been. It just seems that, with Omicron, a hell of a lot of people need testing.

coronavirus.data.gov.uk/details/testing?areaType=overview&areaName=United%20Kingdom

I think the ultimate aim is to wean the public off regular testing access, as a deliberate tactic, but the current shortage is because of government ineptitude.

They’ve probably twigged ( 🙄) that the more everyone tests the greater chance they have of being off work/ school for 7-10 days .

More likely to be incompetence.
It would be stupid and it saddens me to see some intelligent posters thinking this would be good news.
Lots of people test before visiting vulnerable relatives. What are they supposed to do now? Not see vulnerable relatives at all?

I think there's a debate to be had about how much routine asymptomatic testing is sensible. But stopping widespread PCR testing would be madness, as new variants could be missed until they'd spread very widely. With Omicron we've been fortunate that it appears to be milder than Delta, but there's no guarantee that the next variant to take hold will be milder. After all, Delta tended to produce more severe disease than Alpha, and Alpha tended to produce more severe disease than the first version of the virus to spread widely in the UK.

@RoyalFamilyFan

More likely to be incompetence. It would be stupid and it saddens me to see some intelligent posters thinking this would be good news. Lots of people test before visiting vulnerable relatives. What are they supposed to do now? Not see vulnerable relatives at all?

It’s not to say there would be no testing Royal. I’m sure kits could be made available but not to the extent they have been. There can’t continue to be such stringent testing requirements but optional testing for visitors etc should certainly be available to those who want it.

I think this could well be true. And it’s made all the easier because- as we see from this thread alone- people see not knowing as a good thing.

Personally I don’t think we have enough data yet to fully see the picture. I’m all for continuing testing. I know people are fed up with it but covid caused many problems with the body. Some are not fully understood.

S Africa had a really bad outbreak of delta fairly recently -something like 70% of people (heard/read this recently) had had it -so combined with vax it made some impact & they have a younger population & its their summer so (I assume?) they have a similar outside life style to Australia & that will make a difference. It has also has been said by one of the profs that S Africa has a younger population & as we have an aging one we have different population vulnerability.

@Twinklingstarface apart from people going into hospital, everyone I know testing is because they want to test. Many people have relatives in care homes, visit elderly and vulnerable relatives, and most want to protect their relatives.
I also know plenty of people who meet up and ask everyone to agree to test before a meetup.
Restricting tests would mean people could no longer do this. Some will not visit relatives and leave them alone. Others will visit and may carry covid to very vulnerable people.
It is not acceptable.
The only people who would benefit are the government as they could pretend cases are going down and stop daily announcing of hospitalisation and deaths. But it wouldn't stop any of it actually happening, in fact it would make it worse.

They'd have to back it up with different rules then, as if they stipulate you need testing for x,y snd z then obviously without the tests we'd have to stay home.

Hopefully they’re phasing out testing 🤞

I don't need tests to go anywhere. I test before meeting vulnerable people.

Plenty of situations where people are being compulsorily tested @RoyalFamilyFan it’s not all just meet ups and visits. There’s school testing, work testing, nursery testing some of which are being asked for daily!

@AlwaysLatte

They'd have to back it up with different rules then, as if they stipulate you need testing for x,y snd z then obviously without the tests we'd have to stay home.

Hmmm I don’t think that’s the direction of travel to be honest

Vulnerable people are triple/4x vax

They are not as ‘vulnerable’ to covid anymore - nothing like they were

It’s natural that now risk is reduced, we should reduce reaction to it

I certainly hope so, on another thread I've said that I think it would be good to stop providing free LFT tests - those that want them can buy them from a chemist if they want too. This endless testing is doing the environment now favours.

@Twinklingstarface sorry that is not true. Parents are advised to make sure their secondary age kids are tested regularly. Few people are still doing this. Nurseries do not ask parents to test kids unless they are ill. Workplaces recommend employees test regularly, but again there is no enforcement unless you work with vulnerable people.

Unless you are suggesting people should not test if they have symptoms?

The reason testing has gone up so much is that lots of people are meeting older relatives and want to protect them. Every single person I know with family gatherings with older relatives for Xmas tested. This was entirely predictable. Except by our government.

@Wizzbangfizz

I certainly hope so, on another thread I've said that I think it would be good to stop providing free LFT tests - those that want them can buy them from a chemist if they want too. This endless testing is doing the environment now favours.

Yeah i know this is coming. Its why i stockpiled tests and advised others to.

Some people tested 2 x a day some probably even more in the last few weeks. Madness.