Have you caught Covid recently - updated poll 2022-23

[Riklet]

Dont worry too much about it. You have covid now so idk if that applies. Just self isolate based on your symtoms/test.

Ive just been pinged with a text saying the same. I've no idea how or why. I dont have the app. Must be from the plane I took on Monday. Speedy stuff... 6 days to send me a text!! If youre fully vaxxed you can just take LFTs every day, which I guess I should do (even though Ive had a bloody negative day 2 PCR and 2 LFTs since then).

 

[Epona]

I don't need to get a PCR test, I reported my positive LFT and that is sufficient



Now I've buggered up the test and trace form by entering the date of my 2nd vaccine instead of my 1st vaccine and it won't let me redo it, fucksake, it's easier for all concerned at this point if I just self-isolate until they've told me to regardless of my actual COVID status, can't deal with this when unwell - is there such a thing as "Covid Brain"? Because I've got that right now and NHS web forms R Hard.

EDIT: Was able to amend my vaccination dates at the end of the form.

 

[Epona]

It's still telling me to self-isolate until the 17th, nowhere in the test and trace form was there anywhere to say that I was currently unwell and the date of onset of symptoms, which was 8th Feb. It's a different bloody site with a different bloody log-in than where I reported my positive LFT - is it just me or is this just insanely inefficient and confusing, why can't I do everything under one bloody login?

 

[Epona]

Jesus fucking H Christ, I've now had to fill in a THIRD form. They asked for feedback, they got

"This is the THIRD form I've had to fill in when unwell, please make it stop.

Why can I not have ONE account with ONE login where I can input all this information and update it as and when necessary?

...Oh wait, is it because Hancock contracted it out to his dog groomer?"

At least I hope that should give someone a laugh

 

[Epona]

I've now been told to self-isolate until 18th (correct) but this time they sent the correct info for people who are ill with COVID and have tested positive about regulations re. ending it after 5 days if you've had 2x daily negative LFTs - so took a while and 3 forms, multiple texts from them and 4 e-mails from them to be given the correct info but got there in the end.

I think it's just been extra confusing because I got the text that was the result of OH's test and trace follow-up at the same time that I got the one confirming that I tested positive and asking me to do my own test and trace form - it's just mind-boggling when unwell and my head is now pounding.

 

[Epona]

Now OH has received a text giving him a different set of instructions based on him being on my test and trace list, despite the fact I said he was ill and that he's fucking given me the bloody lurgy in the first place - omg the inefficiency is astounding.

 

[elbows]

Try not to let the bureaucratic nightmares get you down. Being positive trumps the stuff test & trace tell close contacts to do, since most of those contact tracing things are working on the basis the contacts are not yet positive or showing symptoms, and the time periods involved for someone to go from a contact to a case.

 

[Epona]

Try not to let the bureaucratic nightmares get you down. Being positive trumps the stuff test & trace tell close contacts to do, since most of those contact tracing things are working on the basis the contacts are not yet positive or showing symptoms, and the time periods involved for someone to go from a contact to a case.

Thanks! Fortunately I know the rules and being socially-minded will adhere to the correct rules - thankfully out of all the versions of self-isolation instructions they have sent me, ONE is correct and I know it to be correct, but fuck me it's confusing and unclear, if I wasn't aware of the regulations I'd be even more confused.

 

[Epona]

I'm a couple of days behind OH in all this and despite still testing positive today (he's started daily LFTs to see when he can go back to work) he is feeling a lot better - so hopefully in a couple of days I'll be similarly improved.

 

[neonwilderness]

It's still telling me to self-isolate until the 17th, nowhere in the test and trace form was there anywhere to say that I was currently unwell and the date of onset of symptoms, which was 8th Feb. It's a different bloody site with a different bloody log-in than where I reported my positive LFT - is it just me or is this just insanely inefficient and confusing, why can't I do everything under one bloody login?

I caught covid at the end of Jan and had the same thing. The test and trace site was giving different isolating advice to the app. I just started doing daily LFTs after day 5 and stopped isolating once I’d had two clear tests (day 8).

A week later and I still have a bit of a cough and am feeling a bit shit in the mornings, but otherwise I seem fine.

 

[RubyToogood]

Yeah the admin burden is stupid, the forms are wrong and the whole thing is a PITA when you are sick. It's not you Epona it's them.

 

[Epona]

This is getting even more ridiculous.

OH has had a phone call this morning (let's be clear, he's been ill for 7 days now, this isn't something that happens in a timely fashion) from Track & Trace (who he spent a long time with on the phone yesterday going through all his recent contacts) wanting him to provide the contact details of everyone in his workplace (where he caught it in the first place). He directed them towards the manager of the place but it took an inordinately long time to sort out.

I've had a text from Newham Council suggesting I visit their website if I need assistance. Fair enough, but how come they can pass my details on to my local council but one part of Track & Trace can't seem to share my info with other parts of Track & Trace or the NHS?

I also got a text from Track & Trace telling me that I'd tested positive for Covid and I should go and register that result, with a different login ID to use - I DID THAT ALREADY, THAT IS HOW YOU KNOW ABOUT IT.

It's getting vaguely Kafkaesque at this point.

 

[Epona]

Basically my advice is don't catch Coronavirus, there's too much paperwork involved.

 

[elbows]

Basically my advice is don't catch Coronavirus, there's too much paperwork involved.

 

[Agent Sparrow]

Basically my advice is don't catch Coronavirus, there's too much paperwork involved.

And you don’t get the impression that they actually do anything with it. I did my own contact tracing, ie calling or messaging the places I had been in the three days beforehand.

You can see why some people aren’t recording their positive tests

 

[Epona]

OH just got another phone call from Track & Trace - he was out of the room and I wasn't going to answer his phone - they left a voicemail saying they wanted to get in touch to survey him about the service they have provided.



You couldn't fucking make it up.

Fuck me, have these people no fucking clue that the people they are talking to could be quite unwell and need some rest??

It's verging on harassment in all honesty, and as you say Agent Sparrow - it doesn't seem to provide much useful purpose - it's too late to be tracking contacts from 2 weeks ago when someone has already been self-isolating for nearly a week (and took it upon themselves to notify everyone they had been in contact with), it's just a box-ticking exercise.

 

[Steel Icarus]

I've had no phone calls, just a text every couple of days thanking me for isolating.

 

[Epona]

I've had no phone calls, just a text every couple of days thanking me for isolating.

Lucky you! Reporting my results and getting a text as acknowledgement and directing me towards the current self-isolation guidelines and a contacts form to complete online would have been reasonable and sufficient.

They haven't actually phoned me (plenty of texts and emails mind you), but my OH has had 3 calls from them now, one of them very lengthy.

 

[Epona]

Now I've got an email asking me to do an online version of that survey.

I have until 21st Feb to complete it - presumably if all self-isolation laws are going out of the window, that is the date when Track & Trace will cease to exist - no point tracing contacts to tell them to isolate if they don't have to isolate.

 

[Monkeygrinder's Organ]

I'm vaguely surprised to hear that track and trace is still calling people to be honest. Not that I recall hearing they've stopped but equally no-one I know who has had it has mentioned it being a thing since the early days. I had the impression it had fallen by the wayside a fair while ago.

 

[elbows]

I'm vaguely surprised to hear that track and trace is still calling people to be honest. Not that I recall hearing they've stopped but equally no-one I know who has had it has mentioned it being a thing since the early days. I had the impression it had fallen by the wayside a fair while ago.

Not only have they been contacting huge numbers of people every week in this latest wave, but they've also still been asking a vast amount of people to self-isolate each week. I've had to look this up and mention it on u75 a number of times during the Omicron wave because the media have been acting as if this side of the system is no longer a factor, they tend to treat what they previous called 'the pingdemic' as if it went away.

eg:

In the current reporting week, 81.3% (846,080) were reached and told to self-isolate, a decrease from the 82.8% (990,338) reached in the previous reporting week. 18.7% (194,508) were not reached, an increase from 17.2% (205,580) in the previous reporting week.

https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/1054045/NHS_Test_and_Trace_20220210.pdf

 

[Monkeygrinder's Organ]

Not only have they been contacting huge numbers of people every week in this latest wave, but they've also still been asking a vast amount of people to self-isolate each week. I've had to look this up and mention it on u75 a number of times during the Omicron wave because the media have been acting as if this side of the system is no longer a factor, they tend to treat what they previous called 'the pingdemic' as if it went away.

eg:

https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/1054045/NHS_Test_and_Trace_20220210.pdf

Fair enough, what I'm talking about isn't just anecdata it's second hand anecdata given I haven't had a positive test myself. I just would have thought I'd have heard more. I really can't recall hearing of anyone who has been contacted as being a close contact for a long time.

 

[Agent Sparrow]

I've had no phone calls, just a text every couple of days thanking me for isolating.

I enjoyed getting two texts at a time, one telling me to self isolate and warning me it was a criminal offence not to, and one thanking me for self isolating. The latter seemed a bit passive aggressive in the circumstances

But I also didn’t get any phone calls.

 

[killer b]

Not only have they been contacting huge numbers of people every week in this latest wave, but they've also still been asking a vast amount of people to self-isolate each week. I've had to look this up and mention it on u75 a number of times during the Omicron wave because the media have been acting as if this side of the system is no longer a factor, they tend to treat what they previous called 'the pingdemic' as if it went away.

eg:

https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/1054045/NHS_Test_and_Trace_20220210.pdf

I got contacted by T&T after a colleague caught it - you're told to self isolate, but once you sign into their system and it links their record up with your vaccination status they tell you you don't have to (as long as you're vaccinated).

 

[Epona]

I think OH forgot to uncheck the "do you want us to contact you by telephone?" box when he was reporting his infection initially (I did that and they haven't contacted me by phone call - plenty of texts and emails though).

They just phoned him AGAIN - he is in bed but left his phone in here charging and asked me to answer if they called back, so I did just that.

I still have no idea what they wanted, they kept repeating that they wanted to talk to him to make sure he didn't have any information or contacts he needed to add (ffs he has given all this info already, he went to work for several shifts during the week before he became ill, he doesn't know the contact details of everyone on his shifts for the week before he tested positive, if there were agency staff in he might not even know their names, they need to contact the manager and they have been given his name and contact details), I kept repeating that he was ill and in bed asleep and no I wasn't going to go and wake him up, that I was ill too, go away and please don't call again.

Sorry to the poor bloke who phoned, but enough is enough. OH has given you his list of contacts already. He has met his legal and social obligation, now fuck the fuck off and leave him alone to rest and recover.

 

[Epona]

I'm actually fuming at the moment, I am glad to hear that some of you are having a better experience of contact from Track & Trace but we are currently feeling harassed when we are already at low ebb.

 

[andysays]

I'm actually fuming at the moment, I am glad to hear that some of you are having a better experience of contact from Track & Trace but we are currently feeling harassed when we are already at low ebb.

It really sounds like the unnecessary contact is just adding to your stress.

As long as you are clear about how long you need to isolate for (and it sounds like you are), I seriously suggest you ignore* any further attempts to contact you and just concentrate on getting better and finding useful or at least non-stressful ways of passing the time until your isolation period is over.

*ie don't answer any phone calls and don't read any emails etc from T&T

 

[andysays]

To add to the general anecdata on this, I reported a positive test four weeks ago and got an email and a text message telling me to isolate. I entered the info on my Covid app and got a countdown to the end of my period of isolation. No phones calls, text messages or additional emails. It sounds like T&T may be operating quite differently in different areas.

 

[Epona]

It certainly sounds like the unnecessary contact is just adding to your stress.

As long as you are clear about how long you need to isolate for (and it certainly sounds like you are), I seriously suggest you ignore* any further attempts to contact you and just concentrate on getting better and finding useful or at least non-stressful ways of passing the time until your isolation period is over.

*ie don't answer any phone calls and don't read any emails etc from T&T

I have a fair idea of what is going on, half his shift is off sick with Coronavirus and the manager is probably receiving 20 messages a day from Track & Trace each relating to a different member of staff and has probably turned off his phone after giving the same information out individually as it related to each of the first few sick staff members that they contacted him about (while he is trying to juggle a skeleton shift and untrained agency staff while still getting doughnuts to retailers on time), so they are coming back to OH to provide more information, when actually the information that applied to member of staff A on that shift also applies to member of staff B, C, D, E, and F.

The ridiculousnessness of it is compounded when the self isolation requirement is due to end 1 week from now, it's like they are having a last flurry of activity before being shut down.

 

[Riklet]

Dude just ignore track and trace. Turn your phone off! You're following all the rules its all good! Just focus on chilling out and getting better... dont let the stress use up all your energy!

I got pinged by T&T 5 days after my flight telling me to isolate for 10 days (wut) but followed the link and added vaccines and dont have to obvs. Ive done a PCR and 3 LFTs since the flight.. all negative and I was in direct contact with a positive covid case the day before the flight so I'm not overtly worried!