Covid Testing Shambles Again

[eve1974]

Hancock forced to prioritise who gets Covid-19 tests in face of increased demand

....

last week they were encouraging all and sundry to get tested. Hence running low on tests again

Where’s the balance guys?

[bednobs]

I would imagine the upsurge in tests had a lot to do with schools starting back

[fiction-factory]

Pillar 4: serology and swab testing for national surveillance supported by PHE, ONS, Biobank, universities and other partners to learn more about the prevalence and spread of the virus and for other testing research purposes, for example on the accuracy and ease of use of home testing

It's a different set up/stream and doesn't seem to be affecting the service set up for those who need or request a test. Of course the government could commandeer the university and other labs that do these tests and insist they process tests from those who want/need one. But on balance both are essential- without the pillar 4 PHE ones we will not get the picture we need.

I haven't really thought about the £425 figure as I wasn't aware of it, but I can see that it makes sense to give people an incentive to continue supporting the important data collection exercise. In the scheme of Covid costs the sweetener is only in the order of hundreds of millions not billions

[fiction-factory]

It does, bednobs. Schools where teachers have to work from home for 2 weeks without symptoms because a pupil in their bubble tested positive are keen to get a negative test as I assume they can then get the teachers to return quicker
I'm not sure why some parents want their children testing though even if they don't have symptoms

[gulliver1]

Half a million Tests a Day, and results within minutes, said Boris a few days ago , while he was mumbling something about Operation Moon Shot, Do you think
he was telling lies Again

[New Judge]

//It's a different set up/stream and doesn't seem to be affecting the service set up for those who need or request a test.//

Of course it does. Any facilities used to test people not needing a test must impinge upon the ability to test those who do. Those resources should be directed to where they are most needed. It's like arguing that money being wasted from one line of a company's budget does not affect that available for other lines.

If they want to fanny about with data collection exercises whilst health workers are unable to go to work because they cannot be tested that is an irresponsible use of resources.

[diddlydo]

FF - I'm not saying my son was wrong as he was only following NHS instructions which were to get a test.

[Gromit2]

Last week they were telling us 10 Million would be tested a day.
This week we are told that in EVERY covid hotspot town, no one can get a test.
They are a bunch of failing con merchants - the distance between what they say, and what they actually do is immense.

[Canary42]

Nice to see that a World-Beating Testing System is still weeks away in the UK - I seem to recall a lot of the World had Testing Systems in place six months ago, so how can it be world-beating.

Just yet another Boris Lie, which of course the forelock-tucking sycophants lap up.

[Cloverjo]

How difficult can it be to get the testS out there? It’s basically a cotton bud and a test tube. Delivered by Amazon, returned by Royal Mail.
I’ve got one at home. Husband didn’t fancy using the one I ordered for him, so if anyone wants one it’s here. I can’t guarantee timeline of the result. That’s not my department :/

[TrevorThePug]

In June, Matt Hancock said:
- It has never been easier to get a free coronavirus test, and our new walk-in centres are yet another way to get one.
- If you have symptoms, however mild, please get tested now to help stop the spread of the virus and protect the people around you.
So as a precautionary measure, people thought they'd get tested to make sure they can work etc (some companies require monthly tests).
Telling people not to get tested is irresponsible highly dangerous.

[woofgang]

Cloerjo its not test availablity, its lab processing availability that is the hold up.

[woofgang]

Trever what is it about "If you have symptoms" that you don't understand? The line has always been get a test if you have symptoms or are told to get one. Getting this kind of test unless you are in an acute localised outbreak tells you nothing, only that at the time you had the test you had or had not got covid. And getting a test "just in case" is pointless and wasteful

[fiction-factory]

Gromit2 and diddlydo have again chosen to misunderstand what Boris said about Operation Moonshot. One of them has the wrong figures anyway as gulliver says half a million a day a day was promised and Gromit says 10 million. Boris didn't say we could do such huge scale testing now or any time soon- he said that is the aspiration. It's worth trying. Aim for the stars reach the moon and all that. Personally I doubt we'll get there but I suspect those who like to whinge would complain if he wasn't aiming high.

NJ- we have to agree to differ. If you think collecting reliable data on infection rates is fannying about then so be it. Maybe we should just stand back and wait to count the dead bodies.

[TrevorThePug]

woofgang, I'm not confused but many were - including Matt Hancock who has the occasion to be deliberately vague and misleading....before lying about it again.

[douglas9401]

Moonshot is it?

Per ardua ad a-hole.

[grumpy01]

Gulliver @ 21.20 last night.What we have to remember is Alexander(Boris) Johnson was a journalist and therefore his opinions changed as circumstances occurred and dictated.He is also a good political campaigner and got himself elected first as Mayor of London then as leader of the Conservative party and ultimately as Prime Minister.However as I said yesterday he and his ministers are in over their heads and are floundering.It isn’t helped by the machinations of the Machiavellian Cummings in the background.

[TrevorThePug]

grumpy01, in the manner of monkey and organ grinder, I think you have yours the wrong way round. Cummings in the background indeed.... lol

[grumpy01]

very probably Trevor.

[New Judge]

//If you think collecting reliable data on infection rates is fannying about then so be it. Maybe we should just stand back and wait to count the dead bodies.//

Explain to me then how jeopardising or delaying the tests of people displaying symptoms, many of whom may be health and other key workers unable to work until they have test results, in order to collect data on people who have never had the disease, will reduce the body count.

[fiction-factory]

There is nothing to explain because we need to do both. It should be one or the other.
But you can't easily stop one stream and use it to serve another- they work in different ways, in different paces to different time scales for turnaround times.