County council describes test and trace efforts

Great efforts are continuing to be made in Denbighshire to try and reduce the number of coronavirus cases in the county, says the county council.

Moli Lloyd Evans from Pwllglas near Ruthin is a member of the Contact Tracing Team within the Test, Trace and Protect service.

Moli said: “My role is to phone anybody who tests positive for coronavirus. The first thing I’ll do is check how they are doing, whether they need any help. 

"I’ll monitor their symptoms or if they have any concerns, I can signpost them to other services in the NHS.   

"I will then give them their isolation advice to self-isolate for 10 days after their symptoms began or  it will be ten days after a test if they have no symptoms."

She added: "The symptoms are a cough, high temperature  and no taste or smell. That’s what we ask people to look out for.  

"Then everyone else in the household will also be asked to self-isolate. I then conduct an interview to establish all the contacts and locations they’ve been during their infectious period so that we can contact those people and give them the advice they need and put them in isolation as well.

“Generally the response from the public is really good. People are happy to work with us, to give us the information and they want our help as well. Sometimes  people can be scared or anxious or sometimes they can be unwell.  

“As a team we always work with those individuals to guide them through things in a friendly and supportive manner.   If  someone needs a bit more time to gather their thoughts and provide the information then that’s fine.  The biggest hurdle we have is working against the clock and it does sometimes hold us back if we cannot get hold of someone. We’d rather be one step forward and try and prevent any further cases of coronavirus from spreading."

Meanwhile, the council is advising residents in Denbighshire of two testing centres that have opened to the public in the county.  

One has opened at County Hall car park in Ruthin since Wednesday, 18 November and will remain open for another two weeks between the hours of 9.30am and 4.30pm. No appointment is necessary for this walk-on and drive-in service.

A walk-in testing centre has also opened in Rhyl.   The testing centre is located on Quay Street car park, near the blue bridge. People will need to make an appointment to have a test and can do so by visiting the Welsh Government website: www.gov.wales/coronavirus or by phoning 119.

Councillor Mark Young, Cabinet Lead Member for Planning, Public Protection and Safer Communities, said: “I would like to commend the teams working on the Test, Trace and Protect service right across Denbighshire.   

"They are doing a sterling job in tracing the contacts of positive cases and providing advice for people to self-isolate. It’s an extremely demanding job but completely essential in our efforts to try and reduce the spread of coronavirus in our communities.

“This work is being complemented by a number of testing centres that have been set up in the county, to provide tests for residents.  

"I would urge people that require a test to use their great facilities in our communities.  You don’t need an appointment to visit the Ruthin testing centre, you simply need to turn up and a test will be carried out.  The testing centre in Rhyl requires an appointment, so I would ask you to get your appointment booked at the earliest opportunity."