Why Are People Still Being Tested For Covid?

[dave50]

What is the point? Its like testing people for flu now. The sooner the test kits are no longer free the better. This paranoia might then stop.

[Atheist]

The reason my family test is so that we can avoid social or family gatherings where we might infect others. My sons, daughters and granddaughters have all had covid recently and my daughter is a teacher and so in contact with many potential little infectors. We have been lucky not to have had bad cases in the family, but young and fit people prefer not to put older ones at risk.

[THECORBYLOON]

"If you do not understand statistics and figures it is best not to erroneously post facts pertaining to them."

Did you forget that as well as new folk being admitted, existing patients are also discharged?

From the official figures, the latest data provided on 14 March 2022 show that in the last 7 days, 12,029 folk had been admitted to hospital.

https://coronavirus.data.gov.uk/

[Togo]

Total patients admitted ... not covid patients admitted. As I was saying ... don't...........

[THECORBYLOON]

TOGO, your lower figure is admissions in England and the figure I quoted was for the UK.

[Togo]

In fact I was probably one of those "patients"in the stats, and now I am at home. Haha.

[THECORBYLOON]

From the government website, "Daily and cumulative numbers of COVID-19 patients admitted to hospital. Data are not updated every day by all 4 nations (England, Northern Ireland, Wales and Scotland). Figures are not comparable as Wales includes suspected COVID-19 patients ***while the other nations include only confirmed cases.***" [emphasis added]

So then, the figure I quoted with the exception of admissions in Wales, are patients with confirmed Covid.

[New Judge]

//PRUDIE, does evidence of a positive test not need to be given to your employer?//

What evidence are you going to give? Are you to take your plague-infested testing stick in to work (bearing in mind you can’t go out anyway)? Incredible as it may seem, if you give people the opportunity to have ten days off work when they are not ill and when it does not eat into their holiday time, one or two may just take you up on it - more than once if they're allowed to.

//The reason my family test is so that we can avoid social or family gatherings where we might infect others.//

Well you’re either going to have to pay for the luxury or knock it on the head when your supply of testing kits runs out. They are no longer to be provided free from the end of this month and many providers have run out now anyway. Just out of curiosity, does your family test regularly for any of the multitude of other diseases which are around and which can affect the vulnerable?

// So then, the figure I quoted with the exception of admissions in Wales, are patients with confirmed Covid.//

Yes, but are they all patients who were admitted to hospital because they needed treatment for Covid or are some of them patients who were admitted because they needed treatment for something else and happened to have Covid when tested?

In either event it doesn’t matter. It makes absolutely no sense for people who are not ill to routinely test themselves for an illness that the overwhelming majority of “sufferers” will experience little or no significant symptoms. This is particularly so when they are not required to isolate. It needs to end and hopefully the fact that testing will no longer be free might hasten that end.

[THECORBYLOON]

"What evidence are you going to give? Are you to take your plague-infested testing stick in to work (bearing in mind you can’t go out anyway)?"

No, take a photo of the device showing the outcome of the test, including any reference number or QR Code, e-mail the image to the employer and repeat the process as required.

[New Judge]

Far easier for the employer to simply deny time off for people who are not ill.

[shivvy]

I help run a support group which meets one day per week. We ask our members to test themselves in the morning before they attend because some of our members have physical disabilities and some care for vulnerable relatives etc.
Just last week we had a chat about whether we should still test ourselves, and we decided to continue. This week one of the members tested positive half an hour before attending so stayed away. She was totally asymptomatic so had she not tested herself she would have spent 2 hours in a room with approx 10 other people.
I think that is an example of why it can make sense to test in certain circumstances. And it isn't an issue of paranoia as suggested in the original question, it is more of a safety issue and a courtesy too.

[THECORBYLOON]

"Far easier for the employer to simply deny time off for people who are not ill."

How does the employer know the employee is not ill?

[New Judge]

//How does the employer know the employee is not ill?//

He doesn't. But I thought we were talking about people who had simply tested positive but were not suffering any symptoms. Employees can always say they are ill when they are not.

//I think that is an example of why it can make sense to test in certain circumstances.//

How long do you propose to continue this and what do you want to see before you consider stopping?

[THECORBYLOON]

This is what PRUDIE posted,

"If I describe what goes on in my workplace it gives an interesting snapshot scenario of why people keep testing. A positive test means stay off work for 10 days (used to be 14) and entire absence is counted as compassionate leave on full pay. Some staff have had 3 bouts over the 2 years."

Nothing there about folk being asymptomatic.

[Togo]

Up next is Warden Hodges answering questions that were not asked in the first place ,to avoid answering questions that were.

""PUT THAT LIGHT OUT""

[New Judge]

//Nothing there about folk being asymptomatic.//

That's quite true, Corby. However, we have reports on here of different people testing as a matter of routine whether or not they are displaying any symptoms. Since a large proportion of "cases" involve people who are asymptomatic, it is fairly certain, then, that many among them are testing positive even though they display no symptoms.

So it's back to my point: why are people who display no symptoms (i.e. who are not "ill") testing themselves for a disease which causes the vast majority of people who contract it little or no significant difficulties? The fact that it may cause a small minority of people some difficulties is surely no reason to expect everybody else to test themselves for it. And as I asked, how long does this testing regime go on? What are the criteria for ceasing it?

[Canary42]

Covid hasn't gone away, and the possible long-term effects are dangerous.

So, precautions are good sense, not paranoia.

The naysayers are, as usual, undermining the health of the country for their own selfish and blinkered agendas.

[Smowball]

TeenSmows gf(yes I know he’s 22 now lol)tested positive for COVID last week. He felt poorly himself and due to his strict work guidelines he had to test himself and he tested positive again, which means that’s the third time he’s had it now, and he’s triple jabbed.

[New Judge]

//So, precautions are good sense, not paranoia.//

So I'll ask again (since I've still had no answer): how long are these "sensible precautions" to prevail and what will be needed before those taking them will stop?

[1ozzy]

//how long are these "sensible precautions" to prevail and what will be needed before those taking them will stop?//

The sensible precautions will prevail until the sensible people decide they're no longer required.

As for the rest, who knows?

[New Judge]

//The sensible precautions will prevail until the sensible people decide they're no longer required.//

But they are no longer required. I'm not criticising anybody for doing what they want to do. I believe that routine testing no longer makes any sense but I don't care what people do. What I'm trying to get to the bottom of is what the people who are continuing routinely testing require before they will stop doing so. I've asked the question a number of times because I am genuinely intrigued. If you are taking precautionary measures against something it will either be forever because it's an ongoing risk, or you have some idea what you'd like to see before you will stop. But nobody seems to know why they are continuing to test or when they will stop.