ahh that’s a really good point. maybe? but at home testing is much more prevalent and available in the UK compared to US, so if we are comparing these two countries, then it wouldn’t make much of a difference
ahh that’s a really good point. maybe? but at home testing is much more prevalent and available in the UK compared to US, so if we are comparing these two countries, then it wouldn’t make much of a difference
...except that, in my understanding, in the UK there is a well-known central reporting mechanism for at-home results via the NIH. There is no such mechanism here in the US. In fact, in my city, whose officials have taken the pandemic pretty seriously despite its existence in a denialist state, there is almost no communication with the public on whether to report home results. When you do find how to report them, you have to make a phone call. The number at the end of that phone call never answers and instead just plays an outgoing message of other numbers to call for various issues, none of which are "to report an at-home covid test result, please do the following..."
Positivity rate in local hospital lab was over 90% two weekends ago. At-home tests are so difficult to locate in the area that there is a facebook group dedicated to crowdsourcing pharmacy stock. The probability of grossly undercounting positives is extremely high. At this point, I would almost suggest that, in my area, if you don't want to be exposed to omicron, do use a p100 ventilator mask when you leave your dwelling.
I do not have a source that specifically indicates that they include rapid antigen test results in their official counts. I am assuming that they are included since they bother to collect them. See "What to do when you get your results" at https://www.gov.uk/guidance/covid-19-self-test-help
That section has a link to https://www.gov.uk/report-covid19-result which offers both online and telephone methods for reporting data. There is a link there that describes what the NHS does with your data, but it's mostly privacy-oriented rather than result-oriented.
NHS has a system to register your testing kit and subsequently submit your results (positive OR negative) for inclusion. While some states, and a few more health departments do have reporting system for at-home tests, we lack the depth to make this work.
ahh that’s a really good point. maybe? but at home testing is much more prevalent and available in the UK compared to US, so if we are comparing these two countries, then it wouldn’t make much of a difference
...except that, in my understanding, in the UK there is a well-known central reporting mechanism for at-home results via the NIH. There is no such mechanism here in the US. In fact, in my city, whose officials have taken the pandemic pretty seriously despite its existence in a denialist state, there is almost no communication with the public on whether to report home results. When you do find how to report them, you have to make a phone call. The number at the end of that phone call never answers and instead just plays an outgoing message of other numbers to call for various issues, none of which are "to report an at-home covid test result, please do the following..."
Positivity rate in local hospital lab was over 90% two weekends ago. At-home tests are so difficult to locate in the area that there is a facebook group dedicated to crowdsourcing pharmacy stock. The probability of grossly undercounting positives is extremely high. At this point, I would almost suggest that, in my area, if you don't want to be exposed to omicron, do use a p100 ventilator mask when you leave your dwelling.
do you have a source that explains UK includes rapid antigen tests in their official counts? i would love to read up on this.
https://www.nhs.uk/conditions/coronavirus-covid-19/testing/test-results/report-a-rapid-lateral-flow-test-result/
I found this while trying to organize a site to accept test results from home tests.
I do not have a source that specifically indicates that they include rapid antigen test results in their official counts. I am assuming that they are included since they bother to collect them. See "What to do when you get your results" at https://www.gov.uk/guidance/covid-19-self-test-help
That section has a link to https://www.gov.uk/report-covid19-result which offers both online and telephone methods for reporting data. There is a link there that describes what the NHS does with your data, but it's mostly privacy-oriented rather than result-oriented.
just found it: UK include antigens and PCRs in officially reporting. which has important implications. i’ll be sure to mention in next post.
federalism is good for some things, but data collection is not one of them.
NHS has a system to register your testing kit and subsequently submit your results (positive OR negative) for inclusion. While some states, and a few more health departments do have reporting system for at-home tests, we lack the depth to make this work.