Asymptomatic key workers to be tested for Covid-19 at Barnsley's Metrodome
and live on Freeview channel 276
Anyone who is classed as a “critical worker”, who is unable to stay at home because of their job, and comes into contact with vulnerable people can be tested twice a week for six weeks.
Barnsley has been sent lateral flow tests as part of a pilot scheme, and Barnsley Council frontline staff were the first group invited to book a test from January 7.
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Hide AdAnyone eligible will be contacted by the council, and invited for a test – for example, service critical frontline staff, people working with high-risk and vulnerable groups.
Julia Burrows, Barnsley’s director of public health said: “By testing these people on a regular basis – twice a week for at least six weeks – we aim to identify positive cases early and help break chains of transmission within the community for people who interact with the general public on a daily basis.
“It is essential that through increased testing we are also able to support people who are told to isolate as a result of their test, and additional information for mental health, wellbeing and financial support will be offered to those individuals.
“If people don’t or can’t afford to isolate after a positive result, or their contacts are not followed up, we won’t reduce transmission, and if people regard a negative result as a ‘free pass’ it can do more harm than good.