Hounslow Struggling to Reach People With Positive Covid Tests

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One of lowest success rates for notifying of need to self-isolate

Newly published figures show that over a quarter of people in Hounslow who receive a positive result from a Covid-19 are not being reached by the test and trace system.

Test-and-trace teams are struggling to reach people who have coronavirus to find out who they’ve been in touch with – one in five sick residents was not successfully contacted across the capital with more than a third of potentially infected residents unaware they need to self-isolate.

Hounslow had the fifth worst success rate for contacting people with the disease to inform them to self-isolate with just 76% of the 265 people who tested positive reached according to the latest Government data covering test-and-trace up to two weeks ago (Wednesday August 19).

Barking and Dagenham had the lowest success rate with just 69% traced. By contrast, Camden tracers reached 86 per cent of people in the borough, with 85 per cent contacted in Barnet.

In every borough, at least a quarter of people who could be sick, including those in contact with people with positive tests, were not contacted by test-and-trace – well over 4,000 so far.

Anyone who has the symptoms of coronavirus – a cough, high temperature, or loss of smell or taste – should self-isolate immediately and order a test to check if they have the disease.

Borough Data (Department of Health and Social Care)
People who tested positive who were contacted (up to 19 August)
Upper Tier Local Authority	Total	Reached	Percentage
Barking and Dagenham	157	109	69
City of London & Hackney	313	230	73
Westminster	161	117	73
Kensington and Chelsea	104	78	75
Hounslow	265	202	76
Enfield	171	131	77
Waltham Forest	184	142	77
Brent	226	177	78
Ealing	274	213	78
Hammersmith and Fulham	148	115	78
Harrow	158	125	79
Lewisham	147	116	79
Southwark	180	142	79
Bexley	171	137	80
Islington	99	79	80
Kingston upon Thames	101	81	80
Redbridge	224	180	80
Bromley	126	102	81
Croydon	163	132	81
Haringey	141	114	81
Hillingdon	235	190	81
Sutton	106	86	81
Havering	161	132	82
Newham	234	191	82
Richmond upon Thames	110	91	83
Tower Hamlets	192	159	83
Greenwich	135	113	84
Lambeth	167	141	84
Merton	118	99	84
Wandsworth	187	157	84
Barnet	251	213	85
Camden	101	87	86
TOTAL	5510	4381	80

If they test positive for Covid-19, virus tracers will get in touch and ask who the person has been in touch with recently. Close contacts will then be notified that they may have the virus and told they should also self-isolate.

Once tracers have spoken to someone who has tested positive and compiled a list of their recent contacts, they then attempt to reach those people and tell them to self-isolate as well.

Hounslow also performed relatively poorly when it came to reaching these contacts with a success rate of just 58%, the fifth lowest of any London borough. Tracing teams spoke to less than half of potentially sick residents in Hackney and the City of London – meaning most people who need to self-isolate in the area are unaware of it.

Follow-up contacts reached (up to 19 August)
Non-complex close contacts identified
Upper Tier Local Authority	Total	Reached	Not Reached	Percentage
City of London & Hackney	693	333	360	48
Redbridge	490	257	233	52
Barking and Dagenham	282	150	132	53
Newham	556	305	251	55
Haringey	366	214	152	58
Hounslow	514	300	214	58
Lewisham	328	195	133	59
Tower Hamlets	429	253	176	59
Waltham Forest	429	251	178	59
Brent	485	294	191	61
Sutton	220	134	86	61
Greenwich	279	173	106	62
Havering	322	201	121	62
Hillingdon	506	316	190	62
Hammersmith and Fulham	267	167	100	63
Kensington and Chelsea	147	92	55	63
Bexley	339	224	115	66
Harrow	296	196	100	66
Barnet	549	367	182	67
Croydon	406	273	133	67
Ealing	522	349	173	67
Richmond upon Thames	328	219	109	67
Southwark	327	222	105	68
Westminster	289	197	92	68
Enfield	304	209	95	69
Islington	267	184	83	69
Camden	237	167	70	70
Kingston upon Thames	218	153	65	70
Lambeth	415	289	126	70
Wandsworth	421	295	126	70
Bromley	250	183	67	73
Merton	243	177	66	73
TOTAL	11724	7339	4385	63

The most successful boroughs in London were Merton and Bromley, but even in these areas less than three quarters (73 per cent) of potentially infected residents were contacted.

But London is faring better than the rest of England, reaching 80 per cent of people who tested positive for the disease compared to 77 per cent in the rest of England.

Test-and-trace is also better at following up with people who could have the virus in the capital – reaching 63 per cent of residents compared to 57 per cent in the rest of England.

For more information to get a test locally, click here.

Written with contributions from - Local Democracy Reporter

September 1, 2020