I’m finally free! I’ve finished self-isolating after testing positive for Covid last week. Fortunately, I feel fine. But this whole experience has exposed me to some flaws in the Test and Trace system and with the @NHSCOVID19app. So I think it’s worth sharing… THREAD #LDReporter

I was hesitant to book a test after I first started coughing on Sunday because I knew there have been capacity issues, but when I found out my friend’s housemate tested positive on Tuesday, I decided to go for it. I went on the government website and tried to book a test… 1/

At one stage, I was asked why I wanted a test and was presented with four options. None of them applied to me because none of them said ‘I have symptoms’, so I clicked ‘none of the above’. The website told me no tests were available, so I tried again… 2/

This time, I selected the option which said ‘I'm ordering for someone I live with who has coronavirus symptoms’. This was not true, but I figured my housemate could be booking it for me, so what difference did it make? But there was no availability for a drive-through test... 3/

Instead, it offered me a walk-through testing site in Whitefield, more than five miles from my flat and a four-hour round trip by foot. I would have considered this option if it was a weekend or if I knew where I could park nearby and walk safely without passing many people... 4/

I tried again around an hour later. This time, I said I’m a key worker. This is true. I checked the list and it says journalists covering coronavirus are essential workers prioritised for testing. But I didn’t want a teacher, nurse or doctor to miss out because of me… 5/

After saying that I am a key worker, I was offered a drive-through test the next morning at 11am around 1.5 miles away. It allowed me to bring housemates for a test too. We went. 36 hours later, my test came back positive and his test came back negative... 6/

I immediately got a text telling me to self-isolate for 10 days from when my symptoms started (and if I didn’t have symptoms, then 10 days from when I was tested). It then gave me a code to put in the NHS Covid-19 App, but this gave me conflicting information... 7/

The app started a countdown of self-isolation which said I had 10 days left. No questions asked about whether I had symptoms or not. It just said I had to isolate until October 24 (10 days from when I was tested). But what about my housemate who tested negative? 8/

The text told me that people I live with should self-isolate for 14 days from my symptoms starting (or 10 days from his). Two hours later, the app told him to self-isolate for 12 days (14 days after we took the test). Again, no questions asked if either of us had symptoms... 9/

12 hours after I got the result, I got a text from NHStracing asking me to fill in a form. At this point, I hold my hands up. It was 9am, I was busy with work and I just decided to do it later. In the end, I didn’t get round to doing it until the following day. My bad… 10/

However, I didn’t receive any calls from NHS Test and Trace until Saturday, two days after my positive test result. Disclaimer: I have issues with phone signal in my flat, so they may have tried and it didn’t work, but I didn’t get a voicemail until Saturday afternoon… 11/

I filled in the contact tracing form on Saturday afternoon. It took a very long time. It asked me for details of activities I had done since two days before my symptoms started and all the people I was with. It didn’t specify whether I should include my housemate... 12/

So I included my housemate as a contact when asked who I went to the pub with on the Friday before. There was no option to say that he was a member of my household. So he was called by NHS Test and Trace and told to self-isolate for 14 days from that pub trip… 13/

And by the way, my housemate has now been told a fourth end date for his self-isolation period. Contact tracers called him on Wednesday telling him he can stop self-isolating from Thursday. He corrected them and told them MY self-isolation ended on Thursday, not his... 14/

The contact tracing form also told me not to mention contacts for an activity again if I have already added them for another activity. So the friends I saw on Friday who I then saw again on Sunday were told to self-isolate for 14 days from the earlier date when I added them… 15/

Fortunately, my friends are sensible and are self-isolating until Sunday, when I last saw them... 16/

Another thing that confused me was that it gave me two options for each contact: direct (1m or skin contact) or close contact (2m). I selected close contact for my friends who I didn’t sit next to. But it made no difference. They were all automatically told to self-isolate... 17/

And I wrote in the description that all of the activities with people from other households were outdoors (we already had additional restrictions in Greater Manchester before Tier 2 started). But this apparently made no difference (which is fair enough, I just didn’t know)... 18/

As it happens, one of my friends who I saw that Friday took a Covid test on the Monday which was negative, so he did some shopping for us before I filled in the contact tracing form. But once I filled it in, he was told to self-isolate. His negative test made no difference… 19/

It feels like I cheated the system by getting my friend to do my shopping for me before he was told to self-isolate. I genuinely didn’t think he would be asked to because he had tested negative since seeing me. Admittedly, I should have filled in the form straight away... 20/

But even though some of the delays in contact tracing were my fault, the system still allowed for three days of not contacting potentially infected people. I booked the test on Tuesday, and it wasn’t until Friday when I was first asked who I had seen recently… 21/

Also, I would have booked a test sooner if there hadn’t been issues with capacity and I knew I could have done it quickly. But still, I suppose with such a small percentage of people who take a test receiving a positive result, it seems silly to ask for contacts any sooner... 22/

The other thing is, I felt SO guilty about my friends having to self-isolate when I found out. Part of it was the shock - I genuinely didn’t think some of them would have to - but if I knew what a blunt tool the tracing system is, I’d have been more reluctant to be honest… 23/

This is a problem. How many people are not sharing their friends and family’s contact details because they are worried about them having to self-isolate? Either because they can’t afford to take time off work or just don’t want to be an inconvenience? 24/

Another thing I’ve questioned during all this, is how reliable the date on transmission is. I don’t know how I contracted the virus. I thought I identified a possible chain of transmission through my housemate, but then he tested negative. So how would the authorities know? 25/

I’ve been lucky. I’ve just been coughing and although I felt a bit fatigued, I have no kids or any dependants so I could rest all weekend and recover. I continued to work from home because I could, and even if I was too ill to work, I would have still got paid... 26/

I have been covering the coronavirus crisis as a reporter over the last few months, so I should know better than most how to navigate the system. And yet, I was confused and constantly given conflicting information about how long I should self-isolate for… 27/

Surely we should have ironed out these problems in the system by now? The difficulties in booking a test, delays in receiving results and conflicting information about self-isolation. Far from perfect, seven months into the pandemic all these problems are still happening. 28/ END