Woking residents targeted for surge testing told to follow the same lockdown rules
There have been reports of confusion after the health secretary said they must stay at home
Woking residents have been left confused after Health Secretary Matt Hancock appeared to contradict local advice about a mass coronavirus testing drive in part of the town.
It is one of eight areas of the country where some households are this week being hand-delivered PCR tests in response to the South African variant being found there.
In his Downing Street briefing on Monday (February 1), Mr Hancock listed eight postcodes, including GU21, saying: “If you live in one of these postcodes, where we’re sending in enhanced testing, then it is imperative that you stay at home and that you get a test, even if you don’t have symptoms.
“This is so important so we can break the chain of transmission of this new variant.”
And in a separate statement in the House of Commons on Tuesday, Mr Hancock added that it was ‘critical’ people in the areas selected for surge testing stay at home.
He said: “In all these areas it is imperative that people must stay at home and only leave home where it is absolutely essential.”
However local advice from the Surrey Local Resilience Forum (SLRF), which is coordinating the surge testing in selected areas of Woking, is that people living there simply continue to follow the national restrictions that are currently in place.
So the only people who need to self-isolate are, as elsewhere – those who either have symptoms, have a positive test result by any method, or have been in contact with someone who has tested positive.
Essential workers can go to work whilst awaiting test results, unless they develop symptoms.
Ann-Marie Barker, Woking borough councillor for Goldsworth Park, said the government minister’s choice of words had not been helpful and she had received Facebook messages from residents unclear on what to do.
“Matt Hancock went on TV and caused huge confusion,” she said. “It had all been agreed.
“There was a whole clear message worked out with local government and the local health authority explaining to people just to carry on with the normal guidance, go to work just as normal if you can’t work from home.
“Then everybody sees that and is saying, ‘Oh I can’t go to work tomorrow, or how am I going to collect my neighbour’s shopping?’ And they think we must have got it wrong, because the government can’t have.”
Also, the government’s website says: “Every person over 16 living in these locations is strongly encouraged to take a COVID test this week, whether they are showing symptoms or not”. However in Woking, according to the SLRF’s distributed information, tests are for those 18 and over.
In addition, not everyone in the GU21 postcode is being delivered a test, but only selected areas of Goldsworth Park, St John’s and Knaphill. Places to the east of the lake, for example Sythwood, do not fall within the test area.
Woking Borough Council’s website has a helpful tool to check full postcodes and find out if they are included.
A Woking council spokesperson said the health secretary was reiterating the stay at home message but there was no special treatment for people in the selected GU21 areas and they should continue to follow the same lockdown rules as everybody else.
A Department of Health and Social care spokesperson, however, refuted the suggestion Mr Hancock had caused confusion, saying: “There has been no confusion. The Health Secretary has made it clear that for those areas involved in the surge testing, it is imperative that everyone must follow the national stay at home guidance wherever possible, only leaving where is absolutely essential – for work, essential shopping or exercise.
“The best way to stop the spread of the virus – including new variants – is to stay at home and follow the restrictions in place. Until more people are vaccinated this is the only way we will control the spread of the virus.”
The SLRF is made up of Surrey County Council, Surrey Police, district and borough councils, Surrey Fire and Rescue Service, Public Health England, local health services, volunteer organisations and others.