[ad_1]
According to the Health Services Executive (HSE), taking Covid-19 tests and tracking all of your contacts takes an average of about nine days, a multiple of the time that most experts say the process should be to stop the spread of the virus.
According to David Walsh, HSE National National Director of Community Operations, David Walsh, the median time from referral of a person for a test to submission of the result for follow-up contacts.
The average time it takes to trace all contacts in a confirmed case is four days, Walsh said in a briefing by the National Public Health Emergency Team (NPHET), though “direct” cases are addressed more quickly.
Mr. Walsh said this was “an improved number” and that it would be shortened by automating the process in relation to negative results.
Professor Mary Codd, an epidemiologist at University College Dublin (UCD) and director of the Campus Contact Locator Center, said it was vital that test results for Covid-19 be delivered within 48 hours by the time the people go back to work next week.
The entire testing process should be done within 48 hours, or certainly not more than 72 hours, to reduce the spread of the virus in the population, he said. “Otherwise, we are actually actually seeing these sporadic outbreaks that cannot be contained.”
The process of sampling, testing, reporting results to a positive case, contact tracing and contact quarantine should be done within 72 hours, immunologist Dr. Tomas Ryan of Trinity College Dublin has also said.
Silicon Valley businessman Tomas Pueyo, whose analyzes of the crisis have been shared by millions online, said: “If it takes an average of three days from infection to trace contacts and quarantine or isolate them, many infections will be lost. “
The Mental Health Commission said on Monday that mental health services in Cork and Kerry, and southern Dublin, were awaiting test results until two weeks ago, while services in north west, south east and south Dublin / Kildare waited over a week.
On Monday, the president of the Irish College of General Practitioners (ICGP), Dr. Mary Favier, said that test response times last month were often more than two weeks.
Walsh said HSE’s goal to test response times was “three days or less.” By the end of this week, the time it takes should be reduced to four days, and then improvements to the process would be made to reduce it further.
The number could also be improved if people experiencing symptoms responded earlier by looking for a test, according to Dr. Holohan. He said an average of four days passed between the time a person experienced consistent symptoms with Covid-19 and the time a sample was taken.
“Our message is that if you have symptoms, don’t wait until tomorrow to see if they go away,” he said, adding that people should also isolate themselves immediately if this happens.
On average, tests processed in hospitals are delivered a day faster than tests performed in other laboratories, Walsh said. The average response time for laboratory tests was three days last week and would be two days this week.
“Real-time experience”
Despite the five-day period from referral to initiation of follow-up contact, Dr. Holohan said he was satisfied that the information provided was a “real-time experience” on which decisions could be based.
The average number of contacts a case currently has is two.
NPHET announced the death of 15 other patients at its briefing on Monday, the second lowest number in more than six weeks. There have now been 1,467 Covid-19 related deaths in the Republic.
139 new cases of the disease were also reported, including 60 reports in the last 24 hours. The new cases bring the total number of cases to 23,135.
NPHET is developing guidelines on the use of face covers in some settings, but Dr. Holohan said the proposals would not be binding.
Meanwhile, the Northern Executive will announce on Tuesday a five-stage relief from the coronavirus blockade in Northern Ireland. It is expected to differ from the Republic’s roadmap in that no specific dates will be established for when particular facilities will be carried out, but each stage of the process will be determined by scientific and public health criteria.
[ad_2]