Patients reluctant to get Covid-19 tests as many believe pandemic is “over”, says GP

A GP has said it's "extraordinarily difficult" to get some people to take a Covid-19 test.

Dublin-based GP Dr Edel McGinnity has said she is seeing patients that are reluctant to get Covid-19 tests. Running a practice in Mulhuddart, the GP believes there is a "narrative developing" that the pandemic is "over", claiming that people are "astonished" when told they need a test for the virus. Appearing on Today with Claire Byrne on Friday, McGinnity was asked how hard it was to get some people to go for a Covid-19 test currently. "It's extraordinarily difficult," she responded, adding: "I think I probably speak for most of my GP colleagues around the country to say that we are demented asking people about getting Covid tests. "I think there's a narrative developing around the country that Covid is kind of over and people are astonished when we say: 'you need a Covid test.'" She also said she believes that despite the length of the pandemic, there is still "a level of misunderstanding" about what symptoms represent the virus. "Particularly since the onset of Delta, they are not the classic symptoms of shortness of breath, fever and loss of taste and smell," she explained. "An ordinary head cold, a runny nose, a tickly throat can just as easily represent Covid as the more serious symptoms. "If we had a hot dinner for everyone who said: 'I know it's not Covid, it's just a cold,' we'd never have to cook again. "Whereas in fact, the Covid virus is a coronavirus and ordinary head colds are coronaviruses." The GP said she believes there should be more messaging around this matter. "If you're in any way different to how you were a week ago, that's the best way to say it," she said. "If your health is any different in any way, you need to stay at home and you need a PCR test." On Thursday, 2,605 new cases of Covid-19 were confirmed in Ireland. However, McGinnity said she believed case numbers would be "probably a lot higher" if "everybody who had a runny nose or a cough or a tickle in their throat" took a PCR test.