3 Things You May Not Know about Coronavirus Test

The coronavirus has been the most serious pandemic in the world since its breakout in 2019. People in all nations have been making the best efforts to stop the Covid-19 from spreading, and also seek ways for personal health protection. Since the government requires every suspected case to take the Covid-19 test before isolated, it is important for us to know something about the coronavirus test. Here we would like to discuss it on the three aspects as below, we hope all our discussion would be helpful to you.

 

1. Why Covid-19 test is needed?

Until now, Covid-19 infections have been rising to 150 million in America. This is a horrible number for us. Taking the coronavirus test is needed because it is a way to reduce the risk of virus spreading. By serological testing on our bodies, virus such as Covide-19 or SARS-Cov-2 can be identified, antigen and antibodies produced, and the rising average of virus’ nucleic acid as well. From the Covid-19 test, we can detect the number of disease people in the suspected cases, including those who have minor symptoms or who are asymptomatic. By distinctly screening, we would be able to determine the accurate mortality rate of the disease and the level of herd immunity in the population from the results of the test. This would be a great help to us in stopping the virus from spreading.

 

Although the Covid-19 test is helpful to us for infected case identification, there are still problems in many countries because of testing limits. In March 2020, no countries have reliable data on the infected rate of the virus in their population. Until April 29^th, the published testing data in some countries equal to only on the average of 1.4% of their population. There is still no country that has the tested samples equals to more than 14% of its population. Since the duration and effectiveness of immune response are still unclear in human bodies, there are variations in how much testing has been done across countries. This variability has so much to do with the reported case facility rates. As a result, the data may be overestimated in many countries due to sampling bias. 

 

 

2. What is the procedure of Covid-19 testing?

There are mainly two kinds of tests that are used to determine COVID-19 infection. One is the PCR test, which is also called the polymerase chain reaction test. This can be done with a throat swab and determines if you have the infection now. This test is used for those concerned if they have the virus because of symptoms. The second test is the antibody test and has a growing interest as it can determine if you have been infected with the virus and fought off the disease.

 

Both tests have many false positives, and recent exposure, particularly with the antibody test, may not trigger a positive for one to three weeks. The antibody test is a better test to determine the infectivity rate in the community. Most people seeking a test do so because they have symptoms but do not help to determine how many in the community have been exposed. The antibody test can be given to a sampled population with or without illness and can give a more accurate picture of the community spread. Not everyone exposed will show signs of the disease yet those same individuals can spread the illness with or without symptoms.

 

 

3. Why is Covid-19 testing so difficult?

The third aspect you may not know about Coronavirus is why it is so difficult for us. The United States has a population of 331 million people, testing everyone is not practical in a short period, and testing the whole country is also a towering administrative challenge. The country that has tested the greatest share of its population and is on track to test everyone in Iceland, with 10 percent of its 360,000 residents tested so far. So testing a country of 330 million people regularly may seem insurmountable. It is known that the elderly and those with chronic medical problems are at the highest risk to develop serious diseases or succumb to the illness. What we don’t know is how many are carrying the virus which would then give us an accurate picture of individual risk. Such information is crucial in determining a community getting back to normal activity, work, shopping, and recreation.

 

Less than 3% of the population has been tested to date. The testing mainly demands PCR test. The sample is biased as many who carry the virus do not seek testing either because their symptoms are minor or asymptomatic. Some Public Health officials have suggested that the infection rate maybe 20 to 30 times more prevalent than reported. That makes it very difficult to clearly understand the danger of the virus. For example, death rates could be much lower than suggested by the current data.

 

 

No matter what, our health should be placed in the first place. We believe the Covid-19 test will be available in every hospital and clinic, which will be affordable to everyone in the coming days. Besides, it is recommendable to focus on personal protection equipment, such as KN95 respirators, closed goggles, protective face shields, and so on. In the end, any opinions about the three aspects of the coronavirus test above are welcomed as long as you leave your comments below. You may also contact us via email if you have interests in our products.    

 

 

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