Patients scheduled for weeks COVID-19 test results. That’s why this is a big deal

Sydney Durbin, 21, was pretty sure she had only streptococci. But the last thing he wanted was accidentally spread COVID-19 for their community in St. Joseph, Missouri, so they can be tested for the virus decided just in case. the doctor’s office could not do that COVID-19 inspection found that the promised results three to five days after it has been tested 30 instead of June, spent Durbin asked the next two weeks alone in his apartment in quarantine , an unpaid holiday “definitely feels like a waste of two weeks,” from her job as a manager clothing store, is expected late the results finally came negatively, on July 13, says Durbin. “It ‘was a very, very daunting. How many people out there who is not lucky enough to drop everything and not go to work?” Durbin question is a good, if disillusionment, since their experience is anything but that unique. People around the country reporting delay of at least a week, and sometimes much longer, while their COVID-19 test results expected. Others, hours of waiting times at the test centers overwhelmed in the face, can not get very dirty. test centers in California, Texas and other areas have to close due to demand have strides. This is a problem for the individual and public health. “Really affects how we are able to provide information on what happens to the epidemic,” said Dr. Trish Perl, head of infectious diseases at the University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center. “It can really affect a lot of decisions. You get a little slower trend, your models are not that accurate.” In the absence of up-to-date that States may not be equipped to make decisions about the reopening ( or re-implementing restrictions) and hospitals may not be able to plan ahead. Test delays make it difficult for public health officials to tailor their responses to the right people: those who are infectious, and people who may have passed the virus. “If you do not know what to do, where are these people, you can not take the appropriate measures to be very methodical and focused,” says Dr. Peter Mark Korte, professor of epidemiology at the University of Nebraska Medical Center. “Otherwise, you have to [use] what I call a blunt instrument. Quarantining, shutdown all,” In an ideal world, says Perl, the outpatient test results would be back within 24 hours. (Decisions hospitals to admit and how they treat very sick patients need information in an hour, he says more careful.) The health authorities have been able to refer the patient to self-isolate and then to find work people, They infected. These people could then take the test, and so on. Health authorities lose valuable time with every day that you were waiting for test results. Infected people may not know they have exposed and unknowingly spreading the virus to others who continue to spread to more people. And the longer a patient is forced to wait for the test results, what is more likely is that it takes liberties with self-isolation. “Many of these people are still there, and they know when they should not be,” says Perl. For people like Durbin who follow you not to isolate the instructions, but found to have the virus, a delay can mean weeks of lost wages during an already difficult time financially; do for those who test positive, a result of two weeks of age can bring more questions than answers, if they are still infectious. And go for all through a nerve-wracking waiting for the test results, a long break can bring undue stress, anxiety and confusion. Considering the importance of rapid tests, because the US delayed? “Basically, it is just to supply and demand at this time,” says Peter Korte. Officials crawl out of the buffer and chemical reagents at almost all levels of the supply chain used for filling gaps tests on machines to make that process them and the people who run these machines. Perl adds that the test system of the US law is complex, and trade with the results coming from hospitals to laboratories-All public test of which have their supply challenges. Innovative solutions such as in test-pools that are different samples tested once to save reagents and staff could provide some relief, but fears Korte Peter, it’s too late. Test pool works best when it is not much disease in the population, he says. It’s a game of positive returns, testers need to go back and analyze each sample individually to find out who is infected. In hot spots, where as much as 20% of the tests come back positive, testing pool is probably only work duplicate in Korte Peter term. The best solution, he says, is simple in theory, although in practice a challenge: a detailed analysis of the system for direct deliveries and best-run boost production. “Certainly we have the production capacity to do this,” says Peter Korte, “It ‘s just a matter of how you turn that” after decades of most medical outsourcing production. The problem requires a systemic review, but individuals and businesses can do their part (small), not “themselves in for trial testing,” says Peter Korte. should be tested each with the symptoms, possible exposure to a sick person or contact with vulnerable populations, but “the good concern,” probably try just want to calm down, can not go, especially in areas with limited offers, he says. And difficult though it is, people who believe they may be sick even have to try to isolate, even if it is not capable off right to get a test, says Perl. “If you really think you are exposed and you are interested, you should not go to work, do not go to school,” he says. “They want to bring not, other people in danger.”
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