SHOULD YOU GET TESTED?

I heard a comment yersterday that “how we are living now is not life on hold. It IS life”. Although we may not be living like this exactly 6 months from now, how we will be living and how we deal with the future will be very different from what we have become accustomed to.

Now – Testing

As tests are becoming more available, the question of the value of testing is coming up. I am hearing many patients tell me about symptoms and illnesses in the earlier part of the winter and are wondering if they may have had Covid-19.

Just to reiterate, there are 2 types of tests, the ones which examine your secretions, usually done while you are ill, to see if there are any signs of the virus present. The other tests examine blood or serum (the clear, fluid part of blood with cells removed) for the presence of antibodies to the virus indicating that you had the disease.

For active testing, the standard recommendations still apply. See a doctor if you have the triad of cough, fever and shortness of breath. At that time, you may be tested. Again, the most accurate source is lung sputum, followed by the back of the nose and then the throat. Otherwise, stay home and do all the standard other things which are important: drink plenty of water, rest, sleep and eat well.

As far as getting the test looking for the presence of the antibodies are concerned, the answer is: IT DEPENDS.

From the standpoint of understanding the actual incidence of this disease, which does help with understanding it better, it is a valuable test. Our medical epidemiologists compile all this information and it may help us understand the spread, severity… We will understand how widespread it is in your specific community. Although this is a reportable disease, don’t be paranoid about being on a registry, privacy… all that crap. Stop it with the government paranoia! In addition, knowing if you are positive, and if it turns out that your serum and antibodies might help someone else, you could really help others get through this with a serum donation. Just like with all the other treatments however, studies looking at the efficacy of serum is still not clear.

On the other hand, if you are using this information to judge how much or how little you can loosen your vigilance, whether personally or as a community with “opening up business”, that’s a bad idea. We just don’t know if having antibodies offers any resistance in the future. Keep in mind that being out and about still spreads the disease, even if you’ve had it. If someone coughs, touches a handle and then you touch it, guess what, it may not make you sick but you still have the virus on your hand and you are re-exposed. You can bring it home and infect your family members or transmit it to someone else at work or anywhere else just from touch. Remember that it is VERY infectious, 5x more than the flu.

The predictions are that we will not have a vaccine in time to deal with the probable fall/winter resurgence, which the scientists I trust are predicting is almost a certainty.

The slower we move, the longer this will take to clear but the fewer people will die because of the overwhelming healthcare systems.

PS: DON’T INJECT OR CONSUME BLEACH OR WINDEX! Althoug it will kill the virus, it will also kill you!

Stay safe and be well.

AC 😎✌️🌱❤🐖🏃🏻🧘🏻‍♂️🌎