Don’t rush to get tested. Testing negative for COVID-19 doesn’t mean you won’t pick it up and be positive next week – and the cost of repeatedly testing everybody for every symptom will be exorbitant
SHARED WITH PERMISSION ... from a musical friend of mine who is an ER physician in Penticton Do Not Rush to Get Tested for COVID-19!! Hello folks. As one of your local emergency physicians, I am going to take the role of devil's advocate and explain why I personally believe that testing is a waste of time for the general population. Although the test is good at telling you if you have COVID-19, its sensitivity appears to be no higher than 75%. In medical terms, this means that 25% of people who have COVID-19 would actually test NEGATIVE. Whether you test positive or negative, still means that you need to SELF-ISOLATE. If you get a false sense of security from a negative swab, you may loosen your isolation precautions and infect many people. If you have symptoms and test negative (and actually are negative), then you may have something else like Influenza A ... H1N1 ... H3N2 ... Influenza B ... Parainfluenza ... Rhinovirus ... ...