The latest data confirms 555 tests have been carried out in Orkney so far, with 388 since the beginning of May. The figures are correct as of the 1st of June 2020.
Since the beginning of March, Orkney has had 8 confirmed cases of COVID-19.
The Test & Protect scheme means anyone over the age of 5 with the recognised symptoms of COVID-19 can access testing.
Chief Executive Gerry O’Brien said:
“It is down to the great work and commitment from all those who live and work in Orkney that we have kept positive results so low, but we must not get complacent. As the lockdown is being relaxed and people begin moving around more freely, we will be exposed again
“To keep safe, our community must continue to stick to the hygiene and infection control guidelines.”
These include:
- Wash hands with soap and water;
- Keep 2m (6 feet) away from other people when out of your own home as much as you can;
- Wear face coverings when out as advised by the Scottish Government, for example on public transport;
- Abide by physical / social distancing rules including who you are allowed to meet with and where.
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I wonder if you can follow this article up with how the tests were administered, the results, and if there are any cases of false negatives. I have heard that the accuracy rate is only 70%.
We will be, still waiting contract tracing numbers locally, the strategy is Test and Protect and whilst it is very good that testing figures are now being published that is just one strand of the strategy
This announcement is not good enough. Test numbers are less meaningful than numbers of people tested. Any repeat test (if initial test was inconclusive or someone in the lab dropped the sample) will be added to the count but skews the picture. We also do not know when exactly testing began and how the distribution over the time period (daily figures) developed alongside case detection. If an informed public wants to keep track of disease development in their region, these are important details. Another question would be why Shetland (roughly same population size as Orkney) has so far conducted almost double the numbers of tests compared to Orkney as reported today in BBC Shetland (radio). Is the Shetland NHS board financially better managed and organised, better equipped, do they have more test kits available, more staff? Have they only found more infected cases because they tested more? Many questions… the lack of transparency and the wide range of individual approaches across different healthboards indicates mismanagement at higher (government) levels. Normally something we are all used to, in times of a crisis however we cannot allow this to happen.