Testing times!

In the meantime...

The question about testing is intriguing, or did I mean concerning.

We can know when a virus has passed when people stop getting sick and/or dying. That's the sure sign of it having passed, assuming it does not mutate and start all over again. I hate to mention it but that's what viruses do, that's what this virus did.

But what I would like to see is not a test that tells us that somebody has the virus because that's a two week thing. It's great if you catch it early because you can isolate and monitor the individuals that have the virus.

A great test would be a test that tells you when you have the virus antibodies. That is, tells you that you have had the virus, it has passed and you can now resume normal life. Indeed, you could even get a certificate which allows you to work, travel and just go back to normal. All sounds a bit Orwellian or maybe even war like but it would only be temporary.

It's important because if, as is constantly being stated, a large proportion of the population will get the virus and show no or minimal signs of having had it how do they know that they no longer have to self isolate etc.

Those people that have had the virus and got the antibodies could then be utilised, if they were amenable, to helping out in the community for the period that follows until the virus has largely passed, or a vaccine is ready.

If we do not know who has had the virus then we don't know whether they are going to become sick at some point and they don't know what they should be doing and not doing because they don't know either. And it is not the case that they might think they have had the virus and got through it because the low end symptoms could also be as simple as a cold through to influenza which is a different virus. The flu could be inoculated against which takes that out of the equation but its a little late for that.

There are some test kits in production but none have been approved yet. I hope that at some point the government will focus on getting these kits into the system, once they have been proved effective, which should be relatively simple as it is looking for something and not introducing something to the human body. We'll see. Between writing this blog in draft and actually publishing, the government have actually done exactly this! There are tests they are evaluating and looking to roll out. A constantly evolving situation.

Don't forget, the test that looks for the virus is great but if you get a negative result that only means you do not have the virus... yet! So the chance are you'll get tested multiple times for the positive result. Still important that we test people as has been shown in areas of Italy and more so in Singapore and South Korea where they appear to have a handle on things, but that could change.

Even though China reports that it has had no new domestic cases ie the only new cases are now ones coming into the country, one has to take any information coming out of China with a rather large pinch of salt, all things considered.