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Coronavirus in the UK - news, lockdown and discussion

teuchter said:
I kindly and specially already provided a thread for people to have this argument on

www.urban75.net

Rural areas and plague tourists

There are many rural areas of the UK which have not really suffered high levels of Covid, compared to the national average. Of course, it's understandable that if you lived in one of those areas, you would want to keep it that way. And when there are surges of infection its quite right that...
www.urban75.net www.urban75.net
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Fair point :)

But sometimes, for some reason or other, I can't avoid thinking that there's a lot to be said for living in or near larger towns and cities! :D
 
Papers are all saying there's a push for everyone to do lateral flow tests twice a week, which is better than nothing but still not convinced its level of accuracy is enough to actually prevent outbreaks?
 
Cloo said:
Papers are all saying there's a push for everyone to do lateral flow tests twice a week, which is better than nothing but still not convinced its level of accuracy is enough to actually prevent outbreaks?
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All staff and kids at my school have home testing kits they're supposed to use twice a week.
 
Cloo said:
Papers are all saying there's a push for everyone to do lateral flow tests twice a week, which is better than nothing but still not convinced its level of accuracy is enough to actually prevent outbreaks?
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Yes, it does look like Johnson will be announcing that plan in the press conference today.

Boris Johnson is to unveil a plan for routine, universal Covid-19 tests as a means to ease England out of lockdown, as the government faced a renewed backlash over the idea of app-based “passports” to permit people entry into crowded places and events.

Six months after Johnson unveiled plans for “Operation Moonshot”, a £100bn mass testing scheme that never delivered on its stated aim of preventing another lockdown, all people in England will be offered two Covid tests a week from Friday.

The prime minister is to announce the rollout of the lateral flow tests at a press conference on Monday afternoon, at which he will also outline a programme of trial events for mass gatherings, as well as proposals for potentially restarting foreign travel. - LINK
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And, this study, involving over a quarter of a million people, does show they are fairly accurate in picking up cases that could lead to onward transmission of covid.

Research led by the University of Oxford and Public Health England (PHE) found lateral flow tests are ‘sufficiently sensitive’ to detect the ‘majority’ of cases that lead to onward transmission of Covid-19.

The team’s modelling found that the ‘most sensitive’ lateral flow test of four kits tested would identify 91% of Covid cases, whereas the ‘least sensitive’ detected 84% of people with the virus.

The accuracy and reliability of the tests has been called into question in recent months, after a mass community testing pilot in Liverpool revealed the tests had missed 60% of positive cases.
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But while the authors of the Oxford research acknowledged that the role of lateral flow tests has been controversial, they concluded that the tests can detect most people ‘who would otherwise go on to infect someone else’.

This is because the same people who are detected best by lateral flow kits – those with high viral loads – are also the most infectious, the study found.

‘This is the first time this has been confirmed in a large-scale study and explains part of why some people pass Covid-19 on and others do not. Overall, only six in 100 contacts of infected cases went on to get infected themselves,’ the researchers said.
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I have managed to go an entire year without a single test and I'd like to stay that way.

It's not like I'm intending on going anywhere.
 
Artaxerxes said:
I have managed to go an entire year without a single test and I'd like to stay that way.
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Why? Getting tested for Covid isn't any kind of moral failing or accusation of impropriety. It's just a medical diagnostic. You might feel that you have no cause to be tested, but sometimes it is necessary to test folks who aren't displaying symptoms, because sometimes asymptomatic cases are a thing that need to be ruled out.
 
NoXion said:
Why? Getting tested for Covid isn't any kind of moral failing or accusation of impropriety. It's just a medical diagnostic. You might feel that you have no cause to be tested, but sometimes it is necessary to test folks who aren't displaying symptoms, because sometimes asymptomatic cases are a thing that need to be ruled out.
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I don't want to shove shit up my nose? Like it looks actively unpleasant and I'd rather not.

And like I say I've been shielding so I've gone nowhere
 
Artaxerxes said:
I don't want to shove shit up my nose? Like it looks actively unpleasant and I'd rather not.

And like I say I've been shielding so I've gone nowhere
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It is slightly unpleasant, though not too bad, IME.

And the tests are aimed primarily at those who can't work from home and so are more likely to catch and pass on the virus than those who are mostly not going out.

If you're still mostly staying at home even now that shielding is officially over, there's little point in getting tested regularly.
 
cupid_stunt said:
Yes, it does look like Johnson will be announcing that plan in the press conference today.



And, this study, involving over a quarter of a million people, does show they are fairly accurate in picking up cases that could lead to onward transmission of covid.





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They're very accurate for that. This could have been a game changer pre-vaccines. Late as ever. The biggest challenge is the lack of support for those required to self isolate and people not using the tests. There should be some education about being over confident in the case of a (potentially false) negative result.The tests are adequate for the task at hand. The more often they are used the better. IF everyone used the tests twice a week and acted appropriately then it would have a real impact.
Accuracy at finding infectious cases as you mention is the key. There have been studies in the US showing that sensitivity rates for the virus down to around 50% will still allow infectious cases to be detected. Non infectious cases will make up the vast majority of false negatives. Infectious false negatives are rare and most would not have received a better test and have gone undetected anyway. It could also contribute to monitoring virus levels allowing appropriate (and hopefully early and less restrictive) to be put in place when needed. I'd be interested in how they would combine it with more sensitive and specific tests such as PCR and samples for phylogenetics and detection of variants one of the few things this country has done well.
 
cupid_stunt said:
There's something wrong with your employer then, free tests have been available to all employers for about a month, prior to that they were only available to those employing more than 50.
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Me and my team have been working all the way through lockdown and have only been offered 1 PCR test last summer. We've applied for workbased testing, but apparently we can't get any as we don't have space where we can set up a designated testing area... yet my daughter gets sent home with the same kits
 
mr steev said:
Me and my team have been working all the way through lockdown and have only been offered 1 PCR test last summer. We've applied for workbased testing, but apparently we can't get any as we don't have space where we can set up a designated testing area... yet my daughter gets sent home with the same kits
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That changed, so you could get tested at a local pharmacy, and IIRC it then changed again, so you could do it at home.
 
mr steev said:
We've not been able to get any home testing - We've all had to use a local testing center the day before we go into work
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Home test kits for employers to order were announced a while back, although it looks like they are only just becoming available from tomorrow, so will be somewhat over taken by home tests for all starting soon after.
 
mr steev said:
Me and my team have been working all the way through lockdown and have only been offered 1 PCR test last summer. We've applied for workbased testing, but apparently we can't get any as we don't have space where we can set up a designated testing area... yet my daughter gets sent home with the same kits
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Register to order free rapid lateral flow coronavirus tests for your employees - GOV.UK (www.gov.uk)

"You can order free rapid lateral flow tests to test your employees twice a week in the workplace.
If you have 10 or more employees, from early April you’ll be able to order tests for your employees to collect from their workplace and use at home twice a week. You can do this if you cannot provide testing in the workplace.
You must register by 11:59pm on 12 April 2021. If your business is closed or you cannot provide tests now, you should still register so you can order tests in the future."
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