Why are there so few coronavirus tests? Why a two-week isolation period? A CDC deputy director explains.
Sen. Kelly Loeffler (R-Ga.) cautioned state residents to take COVID-19 seriously while also advocating for calm resolve during a conference call with reporters Tuesday.
“We’re all in this together,” she said. “It’s important to remain calm. This two week period [of isolation] is critical, and we need everyone to take this seriously... While it’s very sad to postpone the Masters, the NASCAR race, the Cherry Blossom Festival, coming together as a community right now means not coming together.
“This will pass, and it will pass much more quickly based on how we respond.”
Loeffler said Congress is passing legislation and working with the Small Business Administration to mitigate the impact of COVID-19 on small businesses, including providing loans to cash-strapped companies.
“We need to get capital flowing to small businesses,” she said. “I understand that small businesses don’t have more than a few weeks worth of cash on hand, and losing customers is a huge blow.”
Loeffler said that there is no need to horde supplies, and that purchasing based on need, rather than stockpiling, will give stores a chance to restock goods.
Testing update
On the call with Loeffler was CDC Deputy Director for Infectious Diseases Dr. Jay Butler. Butler said that rolling out COVID-19 testing has been difficult, but it’s an area where the U.S. is making “real progress.” The CDC began shipping test kits to public-health laboratories around the country in February, but those tests weren’t reliable.
“Challenges have been multi-fold, starting with some quality assurance issues with the original test,” he said. “We rolled that out two weeks after the sequence of the virus was posted, but we ran into some issues that made the test result difficult to interpret... we felt it wasn’t dependable.”
Butler said the CDC has addressed that problem, but that global issues with the supply chain for the reagent needed to complete tests has also slowed down production and distribution of tests within the United States.
The COVID-19 test is not like a flu or pregnancy test, Butler added, where a result is available within minutes. It’s a two-part test, where a sample has to be taken from an individual and then sent to a specialized lab to be completed.
“This testing so far is using very good technology, but it’s not the fastest,” he said. “We isolated the virus back in January and have provided that information to all private sector interests so they can develop alternative diagnostic tools, ideally point-of-use. We’re working with the industry to develop the next generation of diagnostic tests.”
Taking precautions
The new coronavirus is transmitted via respiratory droplets from coughs and sneezes, Butler said, adding there is evidence the virus can survive on surfaces for varying amounts of time, depending on the temperature, humidity and type of surface. That’s why it’s important to disinfect surfaces as well.
Social distancing and limiting the amount of people in close contact is designed to reduce the spread of the virus. Individuals who are sick are asked to self-isolate at home. Butler said the CDC is already noticing a downward trend in the number of flu cases, possibly because people are isolating when they develop flu or common cold symptoms.
Because of the viruses’ incubation time, which Butler said could be as much as 14 days but was typically between four and seven days, the United States is about a week behind in terms of understanding the impact of the virus. As more tests are made available, the number of detected positive cases will increase. That’s why a two week “timeout,” as Butler called it, is important, in part to determine how effective it is and if the damage to the economy is worth it.
“It’s important we have a timeout for longer than a week so we can determine how much of a benefit we’re getting from it,” he said. “While we need to take precautions, we also have to recognize that negative influences on the economy can also have negative influences on health.”
Butler said it’s a “fairly safe assumption” that the most contagious people are people with symptoms, considering how the virus is spread, but that it may be possible for people to spread the virus before they develop symptoms or if they don’t have symptoms at all, so it’s prudent to limit contact as much as possible.
