Key Points:
- While individuals are learning to live with the pandemic, coronavirus disease cases are also exploding.
- But does it ensure that a person does not transmit Covid-19 with a negative test result?
- Antigen tests are fast tests that give you results in about an hour.
- However, with a rapid antigen test, there is a high risk of having a false negative report.
- RT-PCR tests are more accurate, but it can take days for you to obtain results.
People are in the midst of celebrations around the world including India, with Chhath being celebrated as well as Thanksgiving approaches, led by Christmas in December.
While individuals are learning to live with the pandemic, coronavirus disease cases are also exploding, and more individuals are engaging in meetings with negative certificates from Covid-19.
But does it ensure that a person does not transmit Covid-19 with a negative test result?
Scientists don’t agree with this:
Scientists do not agree with this at all and claim that a bad report is not guaranteed to be secure. Rather it produces false hope, they say. They, therefore, suggest it is advisable that as a precautionary measure, a person who’s been infected with Sars-Cov-2, the bacteria that causes coronavirus disease should still implement the mandated guidelines.
- Angela Rasmussen quoted by news agency Reuters:
“To safely socialize in person, you should not rely on test results alone. Dr Angela Rasmussen, a virologist, associated with the Georgetown Center for Global Health Science and Protection, was quoted by news agency Reuters as saying that a test can only tell you whether you are positive at a given moment in time, and it can also fail to identify cases if you are infectious but are not yet shedding significant virus.
Test Result may fail to detect the virus:
It can take days for a person who has been exposed to the virus to display signs of the viral illness finally. Experts claim if the exposed individual is examined shortly after being infected, a test result will fail to detect the presence of the virus in the body.
For it to be identified in the Covid-19 experiments, the virus needs to replicate enough copies of itself. The Covid-19 incubation time is up to 14 days. And a person can test negative before that and have no symptoms at all.
There is also a chance that after having the test completed, an individual can contract the virus. It is therefore advisable for the infected person to remain in isolation for at least a week after exposure to the virus.
The Antigen tests:
Antigen tests are fast tests that give you results in about an hour. They are carried out with nasal swabs and search for the presence on the surface of the virus of a particular protein.
They are commonly used to assess asymptomatic individuals as the individual gets results within hours. However, with a rapid antigen test, there is a high risk of having a false negative report.
The RT-PCR tests:
The RT-PCR tests that look for the genetic material of viruses in the body are molecular tests. Nasal swabs or throat swabs or both are used to conduct this examination. RT-PCR tests are more accurate, but it can take days for you to obtain results.
