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If at Christmas you are going to dinner or lunch with family and friends with whom you do not live, the government should insert – with the formula of “highly recommended” – the request to first do a swab test to certify negativity. The “advice”, according to rumors these days, should be contained in the new Dpcm of December 3 but, as we have explained, the rush for the tampon will not be enough to “liberate” the dinner with the grandparents.
Christmas 2020: at the table with the swab test?
Let’s go in order. In the next ministerial decree, the government wants to include the advice to do a quick swab test if it plans to serve family or friends who do not usually see each other during the holidays. This tip is highly recommended if you are around elderly or frail people. Meanwhile, according to the Ansa news agency, laboratories in the capital, for example, are beginning to receive the first requests from those who, to protect their loved ones, want to undergo the test in the days leading up to the holidays. There are more than 15 thousand quick swabs done in ten days only in pharmacies in Lazio. Mariastella Giorlandino, administrator of the Artemisia Lab networks that carry out tests in eight facilities throughout Lazio, explains that “there is great confusion in the population about tampons and a bit of apprehension about Christmas because we want to protect the most fragile family members. We are trying to give the most detailed information and the most suitable execution times – he adds – making it clear that we should not rush and be ahead of time. should be done on the ninth day. The molecular also on the fifth day “.
Il Messaggero explains that the rapid swab test is more useful than the serological one, which gives an answer even in 20 minutes (but the real time depends on the structures) and that in Lazio, for example, it can be obtained in 209 pharmacies (but reservations only within the week, so if the meeting with relatives is scheduled for Christmas it is already too early) and in numerous private workshops. Pier Luigi Lo Palco, epidemiologist and health counselor in Puglia, explains to the newspaper that “he clarified that it is an extra filter, which in any case must be combined with the evaluation that each of us can make about the behavior we have had and The risks to which we run is exposed, the antigenic pad, if it is negative, cannot give the certainty of non-positivity. Useful, but not decisive. Having said all this, it should be done close to the day we will have the meeting with the relatives. The window period is reduced. ”
The new Dpcm December 3, the buffer to see relatives and the need to move 7 days before Christmas 2020
Because a negative smear test is not enough for a “free” dinner with relatives
In fact, a negative smear test is not enough and may not be enough for a “free” dinner with family members. The pad represents the exact photograph of the moment in which it is made. If it is negative, it means that the item is negative when it was made. However, this does not protect the subject from trouble. The person is negative at the time they did it, but this does not mean they can get it immediately after testing. The swab represents a snapshot of time taken at the time of the test. The result refers solely and exclusively to that moment.
In addition, today the Corriere della Sera, “In many cases, rapid tests are not sensitive enough to detect the presence of the virus in scarce quantities, which occurs at the beginning of the infection, when people are most contagious. Faced with a presumed risk contact, it would be advisable to wait for least 48 hours before the test. ” Then there is the viral load to consider. If the swab is done while the viral load is still low and the virus is incubating, the test could be negative but the virus “emerges” a few days later making the subject dangerous to others. Same problem if the swab fails to intercept the virus. However, the reliability of the diagnostic tool is not 100%. This also depends on the type of test that is done. Generally, tests performed using a technique called polymerase chain reaction, or PCR, can detect the virus when it is present even at very low levels. However, to get the results of this test, you need to wait even two days and this leaves you exposed during this period. The result may already be “old” when it arrives.
Finally, it must be considered that Christmas lunch at the table with people who eat and drink, talk and discuss, is the ideal environment for the spread of the Sars-CoV-2 coronavirus. That is why it is good to consider that at this time it is not possible to renounce precautions and personal protective equipment. Even in the case of a negative swab test, you should wear masks, stay away, and wash your hands.
