Have you had the virus?

[AdamWW]

How do people who don’t have a car to drive to the testing place get a test done

You get sent a testing kit, take your own swab sample, package it up and drop it off at a 'priority postbox'.

They even pay the return postage for you.

Not true
I was tested in a walk in center in Slough and they did not have the faintest interest in or knowledge of how I got there
It is as simple as that.

Is a "walk in" centre the same thing as a "drive in" centre?

I've seen photos of drive-in centres where there were signs saying people had to wait in their cars with the windows up, then the samples were taken through the window. It wasn't clear to me that that sort of place would be keen on someone walking in, even if they could get there without using public transport.

 

[greyman42]

Not true
I was tested in a walk in center in Slough and they did not have the faintest interest in or knowledge of how I got there
It is as simple as that.

I was referring to drive throughs.

 

[DelayRepay]

Some sites are only drive through
Some are only walk in
Some cater for both markets

 

[scotrail158713]

I don’t know anyone who’s actually confirmed as having had it. Lot of people think they’ve had it but not sure. It does seem crazy that we’ve locked the country down and are terrified and I don’t know one person who’s had this (and I have quite a large social circle)

It does seem crazy when you word it like that actually.
I myself know of one who suspects they’ve had it - that’s it, not even confirmed positive. But that was back in March when, pretty much unless you were in hospital, nobody got tested so they’ll never know.

 

[AdamWW]

It does seem crazy when you word it like that actually.
I myself know of one who suspects they’ve had it - that’s it, not even confirmed positive. But that was back in March when, pretty much unless you were in hospital, nobody got tested so they’ll never know.

I'm struggling to see what's crazy here.

 

[scotrail158713]

I'm struggling to see what's crazy here.

We went into a nationwide lockdown for “the big bad virus”. I know many people, of various ages, but only one suspects they’ve had it.

 

[AdamWW]

We went into a nationwide lockdown for “the big bad virus”. I know many people, of various ages, but only one suspects they’ve had it.

Well yes - we went into the lockdown with intention of preventing large numbers of people from getting it. This is what you would expect to see for a successful lockdown.

(And before anyone says it - not that doesn't in itself prove that the lockdown worked or was necesary, but that's not the point).

It must be very frustating working in public health where if you get things right and you manage to prevent a disease outbreak, people say it was all a fuss over nothing because nothing happened.

 

[Freightmaster]

I'm struggling to see what's crazy here.

How about ruining the livelihoods of millions of private sector workers and small
business owners in a blind panic to desperately try and prevent the spread of a
virus which doesn't significantly affect their age group in the first place??




MARK

 

[AdamWW]

How about ruining the livelihoods of millions of private sector workers and small
business owners in a blind panic to desperately try and prevent the spread of a
virus which doesn't significantly affect their age group in the first place??

Which has got nothing to do with what I was responding to.

In any case I think people of all ages would be affected if the health system collapses under the strain of an epidemic, no matter what the age/health is of the people who are filling the hospitals up.

 

[jumble]

I was referring to drive throughs.

Maybe but the question was " how do people who don’t have a car to drive to the testing place get a test done"
I think anyone reading your answer would interpret it as suggesting that if they don't have a car their only option was a home test

 

[big_rig]

Some sites are only drive through
Some are only walk in
Some cater for both markets

This is the case.

I walked to a combined walk/drive through yesterday after having developed a new, dry, continuous cough earlier in the week. Booked it around 11AM for a 2PM slot for a self-administered test, got an email at 5AM this morning with the (negative) result. Couldn't fault it - even got to see some freight go by as it was in a parking lot behind a station!

 

[jumble]

Some sites are only drive through
Some are only walk in
Some cater for both markets

In addition there are mobile ones that come and go albeit that the apparent appointments for Sunday 13th did not appear on the NHS Website at 18.00 Saturday as promised
eg

Local testing locations | Local testing locations | London Borough of Hounslow

Hounslow Mobile Testing Unit (MTU)

www.hounslow.gov.uk

Hounslow hosts a Mobile Testing Unit every three days.

 

[MalaiseForever]

My test has come back positive, impressed with the turnaround time. Though my experience perhaps has something to do with being invited to get a test as part of the COVID symptom tracker app.

 

[Bletchleyite]

My test has come back positive, impressed with the turnaround time. Though my experience perhaps has something to do with being invited to get a test as part of the COVID symptom tracker app.

Get well soon. Hopefully you don't get what your username implies!

 

[AdamWW]

Get well soon. Hopefully you don't get what your username implies!

That is probably a bonus for using the app. If you live in England. The last I saw, NHS Wales weren't releasing tests to the app people, unlike in England.

I hope your symptoms are/remain mild.

 

[MalaiseForever]

Get well soon. Hopefully you don't get what your username implies!

Thank you! Yes so do I!

That is probably a bonus for using the app. If you live in England. The last I saw, NHS Wales weren't releasing tests to the app people, unlike in England.

I hope your symptoms are/remain mild.

They’re mild in the grand scheme of things but still very unpleasant. Thank you.

 

[LAX54]

How about ruining the livelihoods of millions of private sector workers and small
business owners in a blind panic to desperately try and prevent the spread of a
virus which doesn't significantly affect their age group in the first place??




MARK

Have we not just put it back a few weeks, and will now, if there is a so called 2nd spike, crash into the flu season, which will then open another can or worms no doubt! what we need to do, is get herd immuniy where possible,
I would have thought the importnat thing now, is not keep closing places, we need to get them open and back to work.

Alos getting fed up with the stock responmse from some Companies, saying we will take longer to respond to your question, as our staff are working from home, and access to various things is not straight forward.....well get 'em back top work in the Office / Store / Warehouse wherever !

 

[BJames]

Tested positive this morning, with very standard symptoms i.e. high temperature and cough (no loss or change to smell or taste). Also a couple of others like sore throat and some aches over the body that feel quite flu-like.

I was also incredibly surprised at how quickly my result came through, since I only had the test yesterday afternoon - less than 20 hours turnaround time. The test centre was super quiet, as reported widely in the news (although interestingly the centre I went to was on the news last night reporting a massive queue during the day which was certainly not my experience).

 

[DelayRepay]

For those who have been tested recently - are the Army still involved or has it all been privatised now?

 

[BJames]

There was no army at my test site that's for sure... but they may still be helping to boost capacity for NHS worker testing according to this link? Happy to be corrected though, haven't heard much up to date on this front in a while.

Military personnel are providing COVID testing to NHS key workers at sites set up nationwide.

Regular and reserve soldiers from units across the UK have been trained to safely deliver the COVID tests at drive-through facility that can test about 500 NHS personnel a day.

Once trained in the process and delivery of safe testing, the Army personnel are able to redeploy wherever new sites may be set up. Furthermore, with further training of more soldiers taking place in Barracks, the soldiers are adding skills to the government arsenal to fight the pandemic.

In addition, mobile testing units will travel around the UK to increase access to coronavirus testing. Units will respond to areas of highest demand, travelling to test frontline workers and the most vulnerable at sites including care homes, police stations and prisons.

The new units will work alongside the country’s drive-through test sites, sending patient samples to the network of Lighthouse Labs, to rapidly increase the number of tests done each day.

To be honest they weren't really wearing much PPE either - rather just stand away from you and verbally direct you on how to do the test yourself.

It can definitely be done quickly and it is very clear that testing capacity at sites is not the issue, it's the labs that need to step up or be given assistance.

 

[Domh245]

I was also incredibly surprised at how quickly my result came through, since I only had the test yesterday afternoon - less than 20 hours turnaround time. The test centre was super quiet, as reported widely in the news (although interestingly the centre I went to was on the news last night reporting a massive queue during the day which was certainly not my experience).

It does seem that they're getting back on top of the testing turnaround times looking at the data, admittedly at the expense of making it very difficult to get a test in some locations in the first place. Hope you're back to full health soon

 

[BJames]

It does seem that they're getting back on top of the testing turnaround times looking at the data, admittedly at the expense of making it very difficult to get a test in some locations in the first place. Hope you're back to full health soon

Many thanks. And yes, some of my friends up in the East Midlands got tests done yesterday and results back today too, after having to drive from Nottingham to Leicester to get to their nearest test site with availability...

 

[AJW12]

For those who have been tested recently - are the Army still involved or has it all been privatised now?

At the one I went to at Heathrow, just private staff - loads of groups of them, all sat around doing nothing at all. Loads of bays, nobody in them. A bit frustrating to see! (fyi this was just my experience and I'm staying out of the is it because of lack of testing or is it because of lack of demand!)

I got told I had tested positive two weeks ago. If I hadn't been told to get a test because my flatmate tested positive (they had a cough for two days and that was it), I'd never have known. I never had so much as a slight temperature.

 

[Scrotnig]

got told I had tested positive two weeks ago. If I hadn't been told to get a test because my flatmate tested positive (they had a cough for two days and that was it), I'd never have known. I never had so much as a slight temperature.

Given the apparent level of false positives, it's not inconceivable that one or even both of you never even had it!

 

[yorkie]

I got told I had tested positive two weeks ago. If I hadn't been told to get a test because my flatmate tested positive (they had a cough for two days and that was it), I'd never have known. I never had so much as a slight temperature.

This is the case for most people who have it. It was the case for a colleague at work I was told yesterday.

Given the apparent level of false positives, it's not inconceivable that one or even both of you never even had it!

It is possible but I was under the impression the false positives were more likely dead virus from a previous infection. I'm not sure if there is any possibility of other coronaviruses causing issues or any other factors?

 

[MattA7]

Someone I follow on social media has a family member currently in a critical condition from the virus. I have just heard that she has reached a point even the ventilator isn’t enough and doctors have now had to resort to ECMO.

 

[TT-ONR-NRN]

Someone I follow on social media has a family member currently in a critical condition from the virus. I have just heard that she has reached a point even the ventilator isn’t enough and doctors have now had to resort to ECMO.

that’s terrifying; I hope she makes a recovery soon

 

[MattA7]

that’s terrifying; I hope she makes a recovery soon

yes it certainly puts into perspective How dangerous the virus can be. especially as she is young and healthy before catching the virus.

 

[Mag_seven]

yes it certainly puts into perspective How dangerous the virus can be. especially as she is young and healthy before catching the virus.

Whilst this is sad it could be the case that she had an underlying health condition that she didn't know about. The fact remains however that for the vast majority of people who have symptoms, COVID will be nothing more than a mild illness. I remember Dr Jenny Harries saying this right at the start of the pandemic and it still holds true today.

 

[Huntergreed]

My mum tested positive for antibodies this morning, further confirming my belief that we all had it in early March (although if this is the case, I'm surprised they are still at detectable levels)