The mobile COVID-19 testing facility at 1Leisure Medina will become a fixed provision for testing on the Island, it has been announced this evening (Wednesday).
Military personnel are currently operating the mobile facility until Friday (1st May) with bookings able to be made by calling 03333 218865.
NHS staff will, from next week, man the testing facility moving forward taking it from a mobile operation to a static one.
As announced by the Government yesterday (Tuesday), the eligibility criteria for tests has changed and tests are now being offered to a wider group of people. This includes:
- keyworkers or member(s) of their household who have started to experience Covid-19 symptoms in the last five days;
- all workers who cannot work from home and any member(s) of their household who have started to experience Covid-19 symptoms in the last five days; and
- those aged over 65 and any member(s) of their household who have started to experience Covid-19 symptoms in the last five days.
The fixed testing facility will be available on Saturday (2nd May) and then the testing facility will be open initially from Monday to Saturday, from 09:00 until 14:30 each day. It will be an official Satellite Testing Centre (STC) of the National Testing Programme.
The process for testing will continue to be provided as it has been, and can be used by people in cars or on foot.
For testing on Island, all users are strongly advised to contact 03333 218865 before setting off to find out if they are eligible for testing, and to obtain an appointment, which will reduce the chance of having to wait or declined a test.
On contacting the appointment booking line, you will be provided with advice about eligibility, what you need to bring (including employment identification) with you to the test as well as information about what to expect.
The Island facility has been arranged through close partnership working of the Local Resilience Forum (LRF) to enable key workers who have started to experience symptoms of Covid-19 within the past five days, to access local testing facilities, rather than having to travel to the mainland.
As well as testing being made available on the Island, the central government testing initiative using the postal service has been launched, with a limited number of tests per day.
Full information in relation to how essential workers and others can access testing in this way can be found on the government website: https://self-referral.test-for-coronavirus.service.gov.uk/.
Does this mean it will stay in place when we come out the other side, so we can all get tested and go back to work?
Great that we now have a proper facility but it’s still a fair old walk from most parts of the island to Newport if you don’t drive and travelling there by bus isn’t exactly a good idea.
Hopefully they’re planning to add a home testing facility at some point.
i think this is great
Do you have to have the test, or is it voluntarily
Not much point really. If negative you will still be at risk of being infected as soon as you leave the site.
Less than 100 tests booked recently with the capacity to do 400 a day, yet you still can’t get through on the phone lines. Pretty poor effort if you ask me, especially for those still at work.
THEY WILL NEED IT, SEEING AS THEY PLAN ON USING THE ISLAND AS AN EXPERIMENT!
Has no one here heard the news about how they plan on using the IOW as a test to see what happens if they lift the lockdown, and then see how many get infected and die once the restrictions are lifted?
Of course they are going to need a permanent testing facility. It all fits into their plan of carrying out the experiment, and the testing will be a crucial part of that, it will have to be.
Of course it is they want the Island to become one huge experiment… Jog on “seldom seen Bob Seeley” no thanks you can keep your track and trace
This testing site has been opened here and will stay here and it’s all linked to the experiment that will be unveiled shortly. IOW lockdown is going to be lifted, residents will go about their daily business as usual. Pubs opened, shops, garages etc. The deaths will be closely monitored to see if lifting the lockdown too early has an effect on the number of infections. Today 1st May, Bob Seely has welcomed this trial! Go out at your peril that’s what I think. Stay indoors, stay safe and don’t become another statistic
When the ‘Contact Tracing App’ becomes available to the Islanders, will those that have been alerted of being in contact with the virus also be offered testing? If testing is not offered to those, and self-isolation is the only option, then I would suspect that no one would want to download the app.