Mass public testing for coronavirus could draw people out of self-isolation and help to spread the disease, scientists have warned.
A team of behavioural scientists fear there is a risk that testing will encourage people who haven't had the virus to go back into society.
Professor Madelynne Arden at Sheffield Hallam University, and Professor Christopher Armitage at the University of Manchester, revealed their concerns in an open letter to Health Secretary Matt Hancock and others.
They wrote: “News that home/community testing for Covid-19 will soon be possible seems really positive, and as a family who developed mild symptoms we, like others, would be keen to have this test to know if we have immunity.
“However, as professors, HCPC-registered health psychologists and experts in behavioural science, we are very concerned about the likely effect of mass public testing for Covid-19 on people’s reactions to public health messages to stay at home and socially isolate.
“It may well be that these issues are already being given careful consideration, in which case we apologise for taking up your valuable time, but we felt compelled to write in case they are not.”
The scientist are concerned that people who are fed up with isolation will go out and simply claim to have had the infection.
The scientists also said people who are fed up with being in isolation will claim to have had the infection in order to get out and about.
READ MORE: Coronavirus in Scotland: Police hand out 25 fines to people flouting lockdown rules
The professors add: “Making tests easily available in the community could therefore have detrimental effects on public social isolation and therefore on the spread and containment of Covid-19.”
They also said social norms play a large part in people's decision to abide by self-isolation guidelines, referring to the weekend of March 21 and 22 when "covidiots" were seen out and about rather than hiding away.
The scientists added: “Clearly the Government expected that people would make rational assessments of personal/family risk and that, once they realised that physical separation would not be possible in a tourist location, they would turn around and go back home.
“But they did not.
“A likely reason for this seemingly contrary behaviour is that other people being out and about created a social norm that this was OK and safe, saying: ‘if other people are doing it, then it’s probably safe for me as well’.”
The email was also sent to shadow health secretary Jon Ashworth, Public Health England chief executive Duncan Selbie and other officials dealing with the pandemic.
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