So happy tests are to be axed

[Wizzbangfizz]

So according to reports they are going to stop handing out LFT and will be stopping mass testing - this is excellent news for both the tax payer and the environment and surely marks a clear path this whole thing becoming endemic

@echt

Honestly, I think we need to accept resources are finite and need to be well spent. For example, if half the money went into the NHS rather than bloody track and trace, we would be in a much stronger position

Except that it wouldn't have gone to the NHS. Ever.

You can't possibly say that.

@Wizzbangfizz

So according to reports they are going to stop handing out LFT and will be stopping mass testing - this is excellent news for both the tax payer and the environment and surely marks a clear path this whole thing becoming endemic

Let's hope so!

@2389Champ by the by, hospitals have a duty of care to their patients. If staff stop testing because some people feel it doesn’t matter because symptoms are mild but that mild strain gets into area of the hospital like cancer wards and causes a major outbreak within the hospital the hospital itself is opening itself up to lawsuits for negligence and poor standards.

We wouldn’t be happy for the kind of hospital bugs that used to sweep through wards in the 90s (superbugs etc) to still be a common occurrence so why do you think the general public would be happy to accept very sick relatives contracting omnicron in hospital just because some of the younger, healthy staff only experience cold symptoms?

I support the struggle of NHS workers who deserve better pay and support but a lot are being very unreasonable over testing and vaccination now. It’s sad to see.

pp - daily contact testing will go as its only been advice and hardly anyone in real life does it

@C8H10N4O2

We have damaged the young for the sake of the old and sick and I am not sure that was in the greater good.

What on earth makes you think all vulnerable people are "old and sick"? Most are in work (or trying to be) and pay taxes, just like you.

This is absolutely true. I also don't think old, sick people who have spent the last years of their lives in isolation can be said to have got off lightly.

from the minute i get in there i dont stop , we are short staffed as are a lot of shops now , iv got so much to do theres not enough hours in the day and so having people moaning away at me because we have run out of lateral flow tests is enough to make me blow my stack
we even had someone complain how ridiculous is was we were out of them as its something we are promoting , eh i mean since when were pharmacys promoting lateral flows , we had to explain noo its a goverment incentive , we just hand them out , im fed up of being asked the same questions over and over , are you still out of them , when are they coming in , where can i get them then and finally what am i supposed to do ? all questions to which i and and everyone else working there dont know !!

Answering questions about products, including LFTs are also "what you're there for"

P.S. Worked in retail since 1996 - supermarket, discount store and charity.

Anyway, Nadim Zahawi said this morning that LFTs will remain free.

[quote Tilltheend99]@2389Champ by the by, hospitals have a duty of care to their patients. If staff stop testing because some people feel it doesn’t matter because symptoms are mild but that mild strain gets into area of the hospital like cancer wards and causes a major outbreak within the hospital the hospital itself is opening itself up to lawsuits for negligence and poor standards.

We wouldn’t be happy for the kind of hospital bugs that used to sweep through wards in the 90s (superbugs etc) to still be a common occurrence so why do you think the general public would be happy to accept very sick relatives contracting omnicron in hospital just because some of the younger, healthy staff only experience cold symptoms?

I support the struggle of NHS workers who deserve better pay and support but a lot are being very unreasonable over testing and vaccination now. It’s sad to see.[/quote]
But those patients would equally be vulnerable to colds and flu which nhs staff dont isolate and test for

@Tilltheend99

I’m guessing hooking every vulnerable patient in every hospital in the country up to an oxygen filter would be considerably more expensive than health care workers taking tests that probably cost pence to make (when taking corporate profits out of the equation)

It's not the costs of the tests that's the issue (and they cost more than pence even after profit, but anyway) it's the impact of isolation on staffing levels that's the problem.

As for India, we have a significant proportion of the country with Covid right now, and thanks largely to vaccines and that Omicron seems milder, we don't have the crisis India had last year with a largely unvaccinated population being exposed to Delta. Critical care for Covid in hospitals doesn't seem to be the issue.

Great. Is it too much to hope that finally some common sense will be used when dealing with this shit show?

I saw in the Guardian yesterday Dr Clive Dix proposing a way forward which included urgent research into B and T cell immunity. Very good news.

www.theguardian.com/world/2022/jan/08/end-mass-jabs-and-live-with-covid-says-ex-head-of-vaccine-taskforce

But those patients would equally be vulnerable to colds and flu which nhs staff dont isolate and test for

But we know that covid has been more risky to these patients than a cold has been. And for many of this group covid has led to more complications than them contracting flu too.

A cold has never put me in hospital.
I've only ever had flu knowingly once - I was poorly, but managed at home - fortunately it doesn't seem to be quite so transmissible as covid is right now, so come into contact with it less I guess.
I've had pneumonia once - put me in hospital, very poorly for a while. Took about 11-12 months to be fully better.

Covid last year lead to complications which hospitalised me and left me with a life long health condition which needs regular monitoring, and required two different medications which I take daily - for life. It's been 15 months and I still have 'long covid' or post virus issues such as chest tightness/pains, breathlessness and fatigue.

So my experience, I'm CV/CEV borderline and due a 4th vaccine next month, is that covid was more severe than cold and flu. I teach so come into a lot of contact with viruses all the time. Only covid has lead to these complications and life long health issues.

I don't want more lockdowns etc but I do like the access to regular testing as it means that I might catch it early enough to have the new anti virals if I'm unfortunate enough to contact covid again.

@echt

Honestly, I think we need to accept resources are finite and need to be well spent. For example, if half the money went into the NHS rather than bloody track and trace, we would be in a much stronger position

Except that it wouldn't have gone to the NHS. Ever.

Well, 110 billion is going on a railway few will need, CV has shown many that they can work from home for 2 or 3 days of the week.

that money would transform healthcare in this country.

It's not normal to endlessly test healthy people just in case they might be carrying a mild illness. The very few people for whom it isn’t a mild illness are protected by vaccines and their own choices, and could still get others to take LFTs if they really need to.

This.

I have taken 2 lft, both times when I had symptoms - one was just a regular illness and the second time confirmed I had covid. Yet from reading posters on here people are obsessively testing when there is no real need.

Also @ChargingBuck I appreciate you are opposed to my position but I have done everything required of me, worn masks, triple vax - followed all "the rules". We are as protected as we are going to be, we don't test for other viruses. I don't want my children in school in masks and I am happy that they are removing free testing because it is another step towards this madness ending.

@Watapalava

But those patients would equally be vulnerable to colds and flu which nhs staff dont isolate and test for

Omicron is not the flu, or a cold. Please stop repeating this. As a coronavirus, Covid is genetically distinct from the rhinovirus and influenza viruses. It does share some symptoms, but that's it. You're sharing misinformation.

Vulnerable patients such as those with cancer are particularly susceptible to Covid, as it's a debilitating multi-system disease that we have no existing immune defences for.

@Watapalava

pp - daily contact testing will go as its only been advice and hardly anyone in real life does it

I don't know anyone who isn't doing daily testing as a close contact. My friends and family are, when it's been a proper close contact, as they want to reduce their chances of spreading it to others.

@Wizzbangfizz but people have been told to test, for work, school, social events, medical appointments, meeting vulnerable people etc

Yes, but this "leak" will mark a change in policy which will be introduced shortly. Probably as part of a bid to get people back to work. It won't be overnight. So many other countries don't provide tests for free, and agree with PP that people abuse them like they do so many of the other ' free' NHS services. Some posters on here could really do with doing a stint in other countries which don't provide free healthcare.

and surely marks a clear path this whole thing becoming endemic

You think that by limiting testing you persuade the virus to settle down and behave? Weird.

It’s just media kite flying on behalf of Covid sceptics as per usual.

[quote Dishhh]@Watapalava

But those patients would equally be vulnerable to colds and flu which nhs staff dont isolate and test for

Omicron is not the flu, or a cold. Please stop repeating this. As a coronavirus, Covid is genetically distinct from the rhinovirus and influenza viruses. It does share some symptoms, but that's it. You're sharing misinformation.

Vulnerable patients such as those with cancer are particularly susceptible to Covid, as it's a debilitating multi-system disease that we have no existing immune defences for.

[/quote]
We're not in March 2020 any more... Outcomes for Covid have improved dramatically with vaccines and anti-virals, especially with Omicron.

@Wizzbangfizz but you said you have done everything that has been asked of you, but you haven’t as you haven’t done LFTs. If you have children in school you were asked to test regularly

[quote toomuchlaundry]@Wizzbangfizz but you said you have done everything that has been asked of you, but you haven’t as you haven’t done LFTs. If you have children in school you were asked to test regularly[/quote]
Not if in primary

Ridiculous pandemics last 4 years approx before becoming ‘normal’ such as flu

We don’t have a jab that counters everything, more variants are on the way no doubt, especially as PCRs are not required when flying in now, they maybe just as transmissible as Omicron and look at the impact that has had with cases and the impact on lots of businesses. No tests and we may end up in a much worse position.

150,000 have died, ok some with covid, some of, but we are the worse in Europe and about 6th in the world, shameful

@Wreath21

This is another way to fuck the hospitality and entertainment industries, though. They are required to ask for proof of negative LFT to go to events, but now there are no LFTs... There is someone, or some group of someones, with a degree of clout, who genuinely wants to wreck these industries (perhaps because they want to buy up all those closed entertainment venues and turn them into yet more nasty student flats, or because they are set to make money from online films etc - and they have bought up the rights to vast amounts of material for small change - and there will be some who genuinely believe that ordinary people shouldn't have leisure time or entertainment, or leave their cages for any purpose other than servicing their betters)...

It's also enormously stupid if the idea is to stop people staying home on full pay (not that very many keyworkers can do that anyway) to the extent that services are disrupted. One of the great things about LFTs is that you can take one if you have a spell of 'sneezles & wheezles' but desperately need to keep going with your life, and find out that you have a bit of a cold and therefore can go to work/a gig/to see your friends and relatives WITHOUT having to fret that you're putting them at risk.

I think this decision may be down to stupidity, rather than strategy, @Wreath21. This govt seems to be incapable of joined-up thinking.

For some of them, joined-up writing is probably a bit of a challenge.

[quote Tilltheend99]@2389Champ by the by, hospitals have a duty of care to their patients. If staff stop testing because some people feel it doesn’t matter because symptoms are mild but that mild strain gets into area of the hospital like cancer wards and causes a major outbreak within the hospital the hospital itself is opening itself up to lawsuits for negligence and poor standards.

We wouldn’t be happy for the kind of hospital bugs that used to sweep through wards in the 90s (superbugs etc) to still be a common occurrence so why do you think the general public would be happy to accept very sick relatives contracting omnicron in hospital just because some of the younger, healthy staff only experience cold symptoms?

I support the struggle of NHS workers who deserve better pay and support but a lot are being very unreasonable over testing and vaccination now. It’s sad to see.[/quote]
How will they open themselves up to negligence if it’s not a requirement to test? They will have their procedures in place but the test would be against the nature of the virus in the population at large - the very few cancer patients who have zero immunity exist in sterile bubbled spaces anyway? Not being controversial but negligence is when a medical or healthcare professional deviates from the care standards of their profession and causes injury to a patient. It’s a hard one to correlate that directly back to a covid infection.

Thank goodness.

We need to stop Covid paralysing society and live with it now. We are in a very different position than we were this time last year.