Testing
in Hertfordshire & new ‘Test and Trace’ explained
The new national NHS ‘Test and Trace’
programme has been launched and is now in operation in Hertfordshire.
This means that if you have a test which shows that you have coronavirus, you
will be contacted by someone from the NHS Test and Trace team. You will be told
that you must self-isolate for 14 days and will be asked to supply the details
of anyone you have been in close contact with, from the two days before your
symptoms started. Those people will then also be contacted by the NHS Test and
Trace team and told that they need to self-isolate for 14 days.
If you receive a positive test result, or if you have been in close contact
with someone who tests positive, it is very important for your own health and
the health of those around you that you self-isolate. This applies even if you
feel well and don’t have any symptoms. You could still be a carrier of the
virus and the people you meet could get the virus from you and be seriously
affected.
Stopping COVID-19 from spreading is crucial to prevent more lives from being
lost.
Genuine contract tracers will:
while self-isolating
- ask about
the coronavirus symptoms you have been experiencing
- ask you to
provide the name, telephone number and/or email address of anyone you have had
close contact with from the two days
before your symptoms started
- ask if
anyone you have been in contact with is under 18 or lives outside of England.
Search online for ‘NHS Test and Trace – ‘how it works(link is external)’ for more information. You
will never be asked to disclose
bank details or ring an expensive phone number beginning with 09 or 087 by a
genuine Test and Trace team member.
Improved access to test booking
Anyone in Hertfordshire with suspected coronavirus symptoms
can book either a mail-order or drive-through test if they need one. For those
who can’t go online to www.gov.uk/coronavirus(link
is external) to book a
test, or for anyone who needs additional help, a new telephone call centre is
available – ring 119 between
7am and 11pm or 18001
The coronavirus call centre can help you to book a
test, answer your enquiries about the testing process and what to do once you
have your result, or chase up any delayed results.
Hertfordshire’s mobile test sites are all open
between 10am and 4pm and are as follows:
- on Thursdays in
Watford at the Central Watford leisure centre, WD17 3HA
- on Saturdays in
Hertford at County Hall, Pegs Lane, SG13 8DQ
- on Sundays in Watford
at the Central Watford leisure centre, WD17 3HA
- on
Mondays in Stevenage, off Six Hills Way, SG1 2DF. Please follow the signs to
the test centre, to ensure that you do not join a queue for the Household Waste
Recycling Centre.
Please bring a phone to the test centre if you have
one.
New antibody tests becoming available
in Hertfordshire
A new COVID-19 antibody blood test, which shows whether someone has been
exposed to the virus in the past, is beginning to be rolled out to NHS staff in
Hertfordshire. The test is starting to become available to those who want to
take part and is carried out by a healthcare professional, taking a sample of
blood.
Although the test can tell somebody that they have
had the virus in the past, this doesn’t necessarily mean that they are immune
to getting it in future. Everyone must continue to follow social distancing and
hygiene measures and must isolate if they are a close contact of someone who
tests positive for coronavirus.
The test is designed to help the government and
scientists to gain a better understanding of how the virus spreads and how
different areas have been affected.
