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> Right now in the UK, the basic testing infrastructure is more-or-less world class as far as I can tell If you believe the government's figures it is, but the

> Right now in the UK, the basic testing infrastructure is more-or-less world class as far as I can tell If you believe the government's figures it is, but they have history in misrepresenting the data. The leak a day or two ago suggests they are inflating the figures again (62k tests per day actually carried out v. claimed capacity for 375k a day). See e.g. https://news.sky.com/story/coronavirus-covid-testing-programme-in-chaos-amid-185-000-swab-backlog-leaked-documents-show-12070814 https://news.sky.com/story/coronavirus-covid-testing-program... I appreciate the challenges are significant, but I'd have a lot more confidence in the system if they were just honest about the problems they were facing.

makomk 6y ago
That's not what the article you linked says. It actually says that only 62,000 people are getting tested for the first time every day. This isn't officially published as a daily stat anymore because it's confusing and not all that useful - there are good reasons why people get tested more than once, for example because they develop potential symptoms again or perhaps more commonly in order to protect hospitals and care homes by testing people before they're admitted to hospital, during their stay, and before they're discharged to a care home. The number of repeat tests is also going to keep going up as time goes on for really obvious reasons that have nothing to do with testing failing. Now, admittedly it is worded in such a way as to trick people into making the exact mistake you just did. These two sentences are a work of art: "Labelled "official: sensitive", the Department of Health and Social Care report seen by The Sunday Times says most British laboratories are processing fewer tests than their stated capacity due to problems in supply chains. The newspaper said that despite government claims that its system has capacity for 375,000 tests a day, the equivalent of just 62,000 people a day were newly tested in the first week of September." It's very carefully structured to make it sound like only 62,000 people are being tested a day and the rest of the capacity is going idle due to supply chain issues, even though in reality that's not what's happening and there is pretty much no casual link between the two facts it's using to make people think that. (The testing delay figures also look, off-hand, very similar to what I've seen from other countries around the globe lately.)
- chimprich 6y ago
  OK, I am sure you are correct. But the government is doing a lousy job of presenting the data and their history of massaging the figures does not inspire confidence. Their assignment of tests is also awful. I know several healthcare workers who have been out of work for a week while trying to get tested, and surely they should be prioritised. I don't think total number of tests processed is the only criterion for labelling the system "world class".

makomk 6y ago

That's not what the article you linked says. It actually says that only 62,000 people are getting tested for the first time every day. This isn't officially published as a daily stat anymore because it's confusing and not all that useful - there are good reasons why people get tested more than once, for example because they develop potential symptoms again or perhaps more commonly in order to protect hospitals and care homes by testing people before they're admitted to hospital, during their stay, and before they're discharged to a care home. The number of repeat tests is also going to keep going up as time goes on for really obvious reasons that have nothing to do with testing failing. Now, admittedly it is worded in such a way as to trick people into making the exact mistake you just did. These two sentences are a work of art: "Labelled "official: sensitive", the Department of Health and Social Care report seen by The Sunday Times says most British laboratories are processing fewer tests than their stated capacity due to problems in supply chains. The newspaper said that despite government claims that its system has capacity for 375,000 tests a day, the equivalent of just 62,000 people a day were newly tested in the first week of September." It's very carefully structured to make it sound like only 62,000 people are being tested a day and the rest of the capacity is going idle due to supply chain issues, even though in reality that's not what's happening and there is pretty much no casual link between the two facts it's using to make people think that. (The testing delay figures also look, off-hand, very similar to what I've seen from other countries around the globe lately.)

chimprich 6y ago
OK, I am sure you are correct. But the government is doing a lousy job of presenting the data and their history of massaging the figures does not inspire confidence. Their assignment of tests is also awful. I know several healthcare workers who have been out of work for a week while trying to get tested, and surely they should be prioritised. I don't think total number of tests processed is the only criterion for labelling the system "world class".