The chair of Staffordshire Police Federation has welcomed the roll-out of nearly 1,600 Covid-19 testing kits to officers and staff in a bid to control the spread of the virus.
The lateral flow self-testing kit roll-out, which was piloted last year, is part of the Force’s effort to reduce transmission to colleagues and members of the public. Tests can be taken at home and results are available in around 30 minutes.
In an interview with the Stoke Sentinel newspaper last week, Staffordshire Police Federation chair Phil Jones said: “It is good that officers, like other frontline workers who are most at risk of catching the virus, are now being tested. This will help protect them, their families and the wider community.
“Police officers do not have the option of ‘working from home’ and are often unable to socially distance. To do their job they have to go into people’s homes and have contact with members of the public, meaning they are exposed to the virus - particularly in situations like we’ve seen where some individuals are spitting or coughing on them.”
The lateral flow tests are being used by other employers, as well as at community testing centres, with around 1,900 being carried out across the region every day.
Phil added: “These tests will identify the virus in people who aren’t showing symptoms which will in turn break the chain of transmission. We plan to train more colleagues to use the kits so they can be rolled out even more widely and further protect communities.”
Sergeant Chris Morris from Stoke-on-Trent South policing team posted a picture of his negative result on Twitter and said: “Thanks to Staffordshire Police, Stoke-on-Trent City Council and others, frontline police officers are now self-testing regularly helping to keep us all safe.”
