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“Sorry, too many requests to our reservation system, come back later.” This is the message that appears on the website of one of the largest private analysis centers in Milan, Sant’Agostino, when you try to access the reservation system for the rapid antigenic book at this time. The same test that the Scientific Technical Committee advised all families to take before sitting at the table on Christmas Day. The same thing that scientists have recommended doing especially to young people who return home “to spend the holidays with their grandparents with greater serenity, although at a safe distance and with a mask.” Following a Dpcm that made strong recommendations regarding loved ones to host dinner or lunch, staying in line with the invitation “to avoid being with people who don’t live together,” the race for the pre-Christmas tampon has officially started. .
Lombardy in the lead with thousands of reservations that currently jam the switchboards and online calendars of private laboratories. For Lombard Medical Center, for the entire month of December, only the date of 2. 3 can still be reserved. An even longer waiting list for the Italian Diagnostic Center in Milan, where at 4 of the month, the earliest available date for a rapid antigen test is the 29 December, now looking forward to a safe New Year. It is not better for the other Lombard provinces. At the Italian Diagnostic Center in Pavia it is now out of reserve all week since December 23 to 28, same situation for Bergamo.
They are private laboratories, but also pharmacies and clinics, the places throughout the country that currently offer the possibility of a rapid test. For the Lazio region they are 400 pharmacies that have joined the local convention, for a total of 15 thousand test in solo 10 days. In addition to Lazio, the territories of Tuscany, Veneto and Trentino have also planned the dissemination of antigenic products outside health centers and analysis laboratories, in the now clear attempt to save what remains of Christmas. normal. But is it really so?
Doubts about the tests for Christmas
Just one test, one negative result, and Christmas in company is safe. Scientists’ advice is likely to be easily misinterpreted if we avoid considering some fundamental aspects of antigen testing. Yes, indeed, take sides at the front Christmas tests It is possible to find one of the main representatives of the CTS, Agostino Miozzo, in the trench of the cautious are other scientists who, in the last hours, have tried to warn the population about the danger of the tests. free all.
Clear was the message of prof. Matteo Bassetti left on Facebook: «Swabs at Christmas to be calm? This is all misleading, ”he said. To echo a few days ago the professor at the Bicocca University of Milan, Francesco Broccolo who, interviewed by Open, reiterated how “at a time when the viral load of those infected has decreased significantly, the unreliability of rapid tests, already widely known, becomes a serious screening problem.”
What are the main criticisms of the ‘save Christmas’ test candidates and how to proceed?
Reliability
One of the biggest problems with rapid antigen tests is the reliability of the result. A critical point that has always been evident already in September, when in the shadow of an imminent second wave and in an attempt to overcome the damage of the summer, we found it acceptable to order the possible positives on a large scale. Back then, the percentage of sensitivity was recognized in 60%, with the possibility of having 4 false negatives each 10 people. To date, with even fewer viral load infections, the ability to detect antigen-positive test cases is further reduced. With the obvious risk, referring to the Christmas season, of sitting at the table and sharing moments in a dangerous behavioral relaxation.
Times
Booking a rapid antigen test on December 20, to ensure a Christmas week in Covid-19 negativity, will not be an effective strategy. The main reason is that the test technology cannot detect the virus, but looks for surface proteins left behind by the infection inside the nose and throat. So anyone who has had a risky contact 5 days before going to visit a relative and having carried out the qualitative rapid test a few days before, it can still be negative despite the infection in the circulation. You will have to wait at least the 9th / 10th day for an antigen result. That even if it were positive, it would still need a molecular swab check, the only test at this time that can give us the certainty that the infection is in the body.
What is it for
The risk of the quick test as an outright “negativity license” can jeopardize a Christmas’s success in complying with anti-Covid rules. The rapid test procedure was originally conceived as a consequence of contact with an infected person and therefore the real risk of having been infected. It goes without saying that the random hit to the swab could be quite ineffective if, relaxed from a negative result, unwise behavior is adopted, exposing in that case to a real possibility of connection with the infection.
Respect for the basic rules
The surest remedy to the critical problems exposed is to adhere more rigorously than ever to the basic rules now known, wear a mask, keep your distance, and ensure precise hand hygiene. As for quick swabs, the need to take into account the weak points of a check that cannot guarantee the expected normality seems clear, not even for this Christmas. The fact is true that in case of close contact with the virus, the rapid test can be a first step in the process. put on screen that he still sees in the molecular buffer the only way to control with greater certainty. Even in this case, however, relaxation will not be justified. Leaving a private laboratory with a negative test, even a molecular one, will not be able to defend against irresponsible behavior.
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