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?

I know people who have never tested at all.
They certainly won't pay for it either !

They'll probably bring in "pay to test" soon. That'll certainly reduce the number of people prepared to test.

My sister in law has been asked to provide evidence of daily LFT at her child’s nursery
Current advice in England is not to LFD children under 5 so I find this hard to believe.

Either way, having tested positive just before Christmas and as a result having used the PCR testing services once for myself and 7 times as a family, there was no issue getting tests. Results within 24 hours each time. 2 postal packs of LFD tests sent to my home (14 tests).

I don’t think the ‘shortage’ is a problem.

Have you tried getting tests recently?
It took a day of trying every couple of hours to get PCRs booked the other day. There are no home tests available to be posted

I managed to order a home test today, but no telling when it might actually arrive

@CovidForChristmas

My sister in law has been asked to provide evidence of daily LFT at her child’s nursery Current advice in England is not to LFD children under 5 so I find this hard to believe.

Either way, having tested positive just before Christmas and as a result having used the PCR testing services once for myself and 7 times as a family, there was no issue getting tests. Results within 24 hours each time. 2 postal packs of LFD tests sent to my home (14 tests).

I don’t think the ‘shortage’ is a problem.

There was no issue before Christmas. The situation is different now. Many days when it’s impossible to find a test anywhere in England. Wales had to ‘loan’ some tests to england.

The original plan (pre-Omicron) was to phase out community testing from the New Year.

So you would still get tested before going into hospital, visiting a care home etc, but that routine community testing would stop.

Omicron put paid to that plan because it is so transmissible and the need to track the number of cases vs deaths/hospitalisations was key.

I agree that the current shortage of tests is down to incompetence and lack of planning on the Government's part, however I do think it'll play into their hands if (and only if) there isn't an absolutely huge further spike in deaths and hospitalisations over the next few weeks.

How many tests do we do compared to other countries

Is it still high?

Marsha

Between 2-5x as many

We no longer have PCR testing - the staff are giving boosters. LFT only for your average person. (PCR still available for travel/pay)

I would say those asking above the government guidelines need to pay and supply their own tests - this is where the shortage is coming from as people stock up for their work place/school/nursery/ per company policy.

Why should the government pay? Companies need to look into their own policies and work out what’s acceptable based on the work force/risk.

I think LFT will be phased out by April - PCR tests will be private for travel only for those willing to pay, and the booster program ramped up for September for next winter.

Schools shops and restaurants will close at the businesses expense - over and over until companies cant function.

@MarshaBradyo

How many tests do we do compared to other countries

Is it still high?

From reading another thread a few weeks ago, it seems the UK is one of the only countries supplying free-of-charge tests & testing for asymptomatic cases. Respondents on that thread in other countries were saying tests cost several euros/dollars each, so no one was testing unless they had to/advised to due to T&T or were symptomatic. So yes, I think we're testing a lot more than any other country which is good in that it picks up asymptomatic cases but bad because so many people are having to isolate which is badly affecting emergency services/business/education etc.

@BoredZelda

Testing is unsustainable. Think how much it costs to buy in all these tests (from China!) which are then given out free of charge. Also the environmental impact of all that bloody plastic sickens me.

Come on then genius, what’s the best way to reduce the impact of this global pandemic? I assume you don’t want any restrictions either?

To live with it ‘genius’! What’s so difficult to understand about that? Pandemics typically last two years. We’re coming to the end of it. Annual vaccine will probably be required and then get on with your life. If you want to hide under your bed then feel free.

@Watapalava

Marsha

Between 2-5x as many

Nope.

I just looked at the U.K. and france.
They are at a similar level with France slightly under. BUT they are only introducing self testing (our LFT) and all PCR and antigen are done at a test centre (pharmacies for most part in France)

ourworldindata.org/grapher/full-list-covid-19-tests-per-day?country=GBR~FRA

@Lipsandlashes I’d live you to be right.

Unfortunately none of the scientists actually agree with that…

Pcrs seem more difficult to book as well.
When I looked at the government stats it said testing was down 8% this week but that may be because people either chose not to test on Xmas day or there was more limited testing available over Christmas

Pandemics typically last two years. This may not necessarily apply to Covid, latest opinions I read is it could take a further 3-4 years before it is in settled endemic state
We’re coming to the end of it. We do not know this
Annual vaccine will probably be required and then get on with your life. We do not know this - we are presumably going to need jab 4 very soon due to Omicron and vaccine excape
If you want to hide under your bed then feel free literally no one is hiding under the bed

Ultimately there is no certainty still

@ThirdElephant

Nah. I reckon if they wanted to phase out testing they could just do it- I doubt they'd get a massive outcry.

I think at the moment, with the Omicron wave, there would be. Lots of people are genuinely very worried about it. It would likely have to be done in warmer weather when cases are lower. I understand they were mooting the possibility of stopping the current policy of providing free LFTs whenever people want them in April 2022. That was before this current wave though which could delay things.

[quote LostForIdeas]@Lipsandlashes I’d live you to be right.

Unfortunately none of the scientists actually agree with that…[/quote]
But whether I’m right or not, the scientists’ job is to be uber cautious. They don’t have to think about the economy, implications of constant interruptions to children’s education, the mental health crisis resulting from lockdowns, cancelled operations, missed cancer diagnosis’ - I could go on. The government and the public do have to worry about and face all of these problems head on.
Where does it end? We’ve had three jabs in less than a year, now we have to revert to business as usual.

Where does it end? We’ve had three jabs in less than a year, now we have to revert to business as usual I think it is naive to say 'have to' - the thing we are facing up to with Omicron is that we do not know what the course of a pandemic is.

@LostForIdeas the scientists ACTUAL JOB is to highlight the worse case scenarios.

I think at the moment, with the Omicron wave, there would be. Lots of people are genuinely very worried about it. It would likely have to be done in warmer weather when cases are lower. I understand they were mooting the possibility of stopping the current policy of providing free LFTs whenever people want them in April 2022. That was before this current wave though which could delay things

Doesn't the data show that Omicron is less dangerous than the other flavours of COVID?

Omicron is the same virus, just more transmissible and milder it would appear.

@ThirdElephant

I think at the moment, with the Omicron wave, there would be. Lots of people are genuinely very worried about it. It would likely have to be done in warmer weather when cases are lower. I understand they were mooting the possibility of stopping the current policy of providing free LFTs whenever people want them in April 2022. That was before this current wave though which could delay things

Doesn't the data show that Omicron is less dangerous than the other flavours of COVID?

Right now, for me personally, Omicron is more dangerous - because the NHS is now under so much pressure that if I need treatment for either covid or anything else, I may really struggle to get the care I need.

Also, person A's risk of dying from covid is a combination of their risk of catching it and their risk of getting severely ill if they do catch it. So the Omicron wave is more dangerous to a large number of people because the risk of catching it is much higher.

@ThirdElephant

I think at the moment, with the Omicron wave, there would be. Lots of people are genuinely very worried about it. It would likely have to be done in warmer weather when cases are lower. I understand they were mooting the possibility of stopping the current policy of providing free LFTs whenever people want them in April 2022. That was before this current wave though which could delay things

Doesn't the data show that Omicron is less dangerous than the other flavours of COVID?

Yes, but there's still pretty obviously a lot of worry about it. For that reason I think attempts to phase out testing at the moment would meet a lot of resistance. I don't expect to see attempts made until the weather is warmer. Notwithstanding today being randomly quite hot lol.

@Wizzbangfizz

Omicron is the same virus, just more transmissible and milder it would appear.

Well, yeah, it's a variant. Much like the Delta variant. Point being, all evidence points to it being milder and less likely to cause hospitalisation (which is to be expected, as viruses generally don't mutate to become more deadly- it's not in their best interests to kill their hosts), so to use it as a reason for alarm/concern/retaining restrictions is a little counter-intuitive.