Engagement with daily testing instead of self-isolating in contacts of confirmed cases of SARS-CoV-2

• Published in: BMC public health 2021-06, Vol.21 (1), p.1067-1067, Article 1067
• Main Authors: Martin, Alex F, Denford, Sarah, Love, Nicola, Ready, Derren, Oliver, Isabel, Amlôt, Richard, Rubin, G James, Yardley, Lucy
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Acceptability; Adherence; Adult; Antigens; Contact; Contact tracing; Coronaviruses; COVID-19; Cross-Sectional Studies; Daily testing; Engagement; England; Ethnicity; Evaluation; Households; Humans; Minority & ethnic groups; Minority Groups; Pilot Projects; Policy; Polls & surveys; Public health; Questionnaires; Risk taking; SARS-CoV-2; Self-examination, Medical; Self-isolating; Severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2; Surveys
• ISSN: 1471-2458; 1471-2458
• DOI: 10.1186/s12889-021-11135-7

In December 2020, Public Health England with NHS Test and Trace initiated a pilot study in which close contacts of people with confirmed COVID-19 were given the option to carryout lateral flow device antigen tests at home, as an alternative to self-isolation for 10-14 days. In this study, we evaluated engagement with daily testing, and assessed levels of adherence to the rules relating to behaviour following positive or negative test results. We conducted a service evaluation of the pilot study, examining survey responses from a subset of those who responded to an evaluation questionnaire. We used an online cross-sectional survey offered to adult contacts of confirmed COVID-19 cases who consented to daily testing. We used a comparison group of contacts who were not offered testing and instead self-isolated. Acceptability of daily testing was lower among survey respondents who were not offered the option of testing and among people from ethnic minority groups. Overall, 52% of respondents reported being more likely to share details of people that they had been in contact with following a positive test result, if they knew that their contacts would be offered the option of daily testing. Only 2% reported that they would be less likely to provide details of their contacts. On the days that they were trying to self-isolate, 19% of participants reported that they left the house, with no significant group differences. Following a negative test, 13% of respondents reported that they increased their contacts, but most (58%) reported having fewer risky contacts. Our data suggest that daily testing is potentially acceptable, may facilitate sharing contact details of close contacts among those who test positive for COVID-19, and promote adherence to self-isolation. A better understanding is needed of how to make this option more acceptable for all households. The impact of receiving a negative test on behaviour remains a risk that needs to be monitored and mitigated by appropriate messaging. Future research should examine attitudes and behaviour in a context where infection levels are lower, testing is more familiar, and restrictions on activity have been reduced.