I have a friend who is waiting on COVID-19 test results.
She’s been waiting for nine days now.
If she’s typical, that means the numbers we’re seeing are about a week behind and a small fraction of the real total.
I have another friend whose adult daughter was taken to emergency after eight days of feeling unwell, starting with a scratchy throat and progressing to a dry cough and runny nose. She didn’t have a fever, so they thought it was just a cold, but then she started struggling to breathe.
She was told she probably has the virus and they gave her a chest X-ray. After the X-ray, the doctors said it wasn’t worrisome for someone her age. She was given an inhaler and sent home without a test. She’s now in quarantine for 14 days. She was told only health care workers or people who need to be admitted to hospital can be tested.
Another friend thought she may have COVID-19, but after a few days of a fever and a cough, she’s feeling better. She went home from work on Tuesday and tried to call 811, the province’s nurse line. A friend of hers has also been tested and is waiting on the results. Getting through to 811 took three days, she says. For the first three days, she just got a recorded message telling her call volumes were too high and to call back.
On the fourth day, she got through, but then spent an hour and 55 minutes on the phone, only to be told she should self-isolate, wash her hands, wear gloves and a mask if she has to go out and not to share towels with anyone. She was told to call back if her symptoms got worse or if she found out she had been in contact with anyone who tests positive. Fortunately, her symptoms are mild and by Saturday she was feeling a lot better.
B.C. has added more staff and more phone lines to the 811 system, but it sounds like even more are needed.
All of this is a long way of saying it appears only healthcare workers or people who are very sick are getting tested.
But yet, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said Sunday morning that testing is a priority.
“Testing on a much larger scale is going to be very important, which is why we’re ramping up the amount of tests done by tens of thousands every day,” Trudeau said.
Statistics from the B.C. government show that 17,912 people have been tested so far. As of March 21, 424 are positive, 27 people are hospitalized and 12 people are in intensive care. Ten people have died and nine of those people were associated with a seniors’ care facility where a COVID-19 outbreak occurred.
Testing is not only important in eliminating the virus, it also plays a role in assessing mortality rates. A Guardian story reports that Germany is only showing a 0.3 per cent mortality rate, compared to nine per cent in Italy. Germany, however, started testing early and tested people even with mild symptoms.
B.C.’s Provincial Health Officer Dr. Bonnie Henry said Saturday that there is a backlog of tests, but she expects it to be cleared by the end of the weekend or early next week.
"Our testing strategy has been to focus on where we can make the most difference. If we flatten the curve, we will change our testing strategy again," Henry said. "Hopefully in a matter of weeks we will get to that point."
Social distancing isn’t enough on its own to extinguish the pandemic, said Dr. Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, Director-General of the World Health Organization. Instead, countries must test widely and isolate to break the chains of transmission, he said at a news briefing on March 16.
“You cannot fight a fire blindfolded and we cannot stop this pandemic if we don’t know who is infected,” Ghebreyesus said. “We have a simple message for all countries -- test, test, test.”
If someone tests positive, isolate them and find out who they have been in close contact with up to two days before they developed symptoms and test those people too, Ghebreyesus recommended.
B.C. isn’t yet doing that, as the experiences of my friends above show. I’m not sure if there is a shortage of tests or a lack of capacity in labs to test those tests or perhaps other factors, or a combination. But something is stopping the levels of testing recommended by the WHO.
I am not criticizing Trudeau, Henry or Health Minister Adrian Dix. I think they’ve been doing a masterful job of leading us through what Dix calls “the greatest fight of our time.”
Having said that, I’d feel more assured if I knew our testing strategy was the best it could be. I hope we get there soon.
A note about names: Because of the stigma related to the COVID-19 virus and fears of personal repercussions, I won’t be naming any of the people who may be affected by the virus, unless they expressly consent.
Comments