14-day wait for Covid result
Group forced to self-isolate for two weeks after daughter’s test ‘limbo’
WHEN Scott Stoneage’s daughter showed Covid-19 symptoms he took her to be tested as soon as possible – but the family has been stuck in limbo self-isolating for two weeks because NHS Test and Trace has not given them the result.
After 13-year-old Tegan exhibited a continuous cough, Scott took her to the Covid-19 testing centre at Southampton Airport at 7pm on Wednesday, October 7.
The manufacturing worker was told the family should expect a result within 48 hours, but after a nine-day wait Scott called the NHS Test and Trace service – and was told to continue to wait while the service investigated the matter.
Now after 14 days selfisolating, the family has still not received Tegan’s test result nor the result of the investigation.
Scott, of Fareham Park Road, said: ‘I asked to get another test, and I was told it was best to just sit it out.
‘There doesn’t seem to be a safety net in place for things like this.
‘It’s very, very frustrating – it does knock your confidence in the system.
‘You try to do the right thing and then something like this happens.’
Now the 43-year-old feels he has been ‘left in limbo’ with his next paycheque, as he works with his employer to ensure his wages during the isolation period – totaling more than £800 – will be eligible for the government’s coronavirus-related sick pay scheme.
He said: ‘I was beginning to get a bit nervous that my employer wouldn’t believe me, but work has been really good.
‘It could still be the case that I’m not paid, but it wouldn’t be work’s fault – they are just following the process.’
Tegan’s symptoms have now abated and Scott has sent an NHS isolation note to his employer – and hopes this will enable them to claim back his wages.
NHS Test and Trace does not comment on individual cases, but the ‘majority’ of people tested receive a result the next day, according to a spokeswoman from the Department of Health and Social Care.
She said: ‘NHS Test and Trace is processing tests at an unprecedented rate – 270,000 a day on average over the last week – with the majority of the public who undertake an in-person test are receiving their results the following day, and reporting no issues at all.’
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