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It is an increasingly common strategy for many Portuguese: to do a rapid response antigen test to covid-19 in the week of Christmas with the aim of spending those “safer” days and with the family if the result is negative. Two weeks before Christmas Eve, the demand for these tests is increasing at Red Cross posts and in the largest networks of private laboratories that perform them, but this method is not recommended by experts or health authorities, as it is less more reliable than PCR tests, even more if used “randomly”.
This Wednesday, the manager of the Special Covid-19 Testing Program of the Portuguese Red Cross, Gonçalo Órfão, revealed in an interview with Antena 1 that the demand for this type of testing has been great, especially with the approach of Christmas. To the PUBLIC, the president of the institution, Francisco George, gave as an example December 21, 22 and 23, dates for which there are no more vacancies at the Lisbon fixed station. And consulting the appointment schedule available in the site of that entity, it can be noted that the same happens for December 22, both in the option Walk through (on foot) as in Self-service (by car).
Opening of the fixed station for testing by the Red Cross, in Maia, on December 4, 2020. At this center, only rapid response antigen tests are performed.
JOSÉ COELHO / LUSA
At the Porto stand, which opened at the beginning of December, the 90 available daily seats are also occupied (between 9 a.m. and 4:20 p.m.), either on December 22 or 23. In Maia there are still many hours for the 22nd, but none for the 23rd, in the Self-service there are vacancies for both days, but less for the 23rd.
In the posts of Guimarães, Aveiro (Sanguedo) there are still places, but less compared to the previous week. At the Coimbra fixed station, there are zero vacancies for December 23 and less than ten for the day before. In Faro (Tavira) there are no vacancies for the 22nd and on the 23rd there are no harvests in that center.
Unlike PCR tests, rapid response antigen tests only began to be prescribed by doctors from the National Health Service (SNS) from November 9. The Red Cross has a total of 27 fixed stations to test the covid-19 spread throughout the country and it is possible to schedule a test online or by phone. In the Red Cross and in some laboratories, anyone who would like to have a private test can do so without a prescription.
“The concern that people have to reduce the risk when they gather at parties with relatives, that is, with the elderly, has been reflected in the multiple appointments this week, especially after the Government announced the measures for Christmas. We have to recognize that it is a system that is not available to everyone because despite the demand there is no universal supply ”, he says. The former director general of Health ensures that, in case this test is positive, the person can take the necessary precautions and not get to meet with the family. If the test is negative, there is a “high chance” of not having an infection, although there is a “small chance” of being infected.
Francisco George says that traditional tests (RT-PCR) have also been in high demand, although less by now, as they take longer to produce results.
Only those who have symptoms should be tested
Together with the Red Cross, which has already carried out more than 41 thousand tests of this type in about a month, the Unilabs and Germano de Sousa laboratories are also authorized to carry them out. The PUBLIC first contacted those responsible for these companies to see if they noticed an increase in brands for rapid tests, and then called several laboratories around the country to request one.
In response, the pathologist Germano de Sousa stated, in writing, that “there has not been an excessive increase in appointments” and points out that these tests, according to the regulations issued by the General Directorate of Health (DGS), should only be performed on people with suspicious symptoms.
“During the first five days [de sintomas], a positive test allows confirmation of SARS-CoV-2 disease. If the person is asymptomatic or presymptomatic, a negative result does not exclude the possibility of being infected and being contagious. So if someone wants to be sure that it is really negative and that at least during lunch or Sunday lunch it will not infect the family, I do not recommend a rapid antigen test, but PCR, “the doctor explains, saying. although its clinics have performed 670,000 PCR tests since March, some 270,000 serological tests since May (which are not suitable for diagnosis), and about 2,000 rapid antigen tests a month ago.
In most of the laboratories in Germano de Sousa that the PUBLIC contacted to ask if we could schedule an antigen test, whoever attends us warns that the test can only be done to people who present symptoms and that a medical prescription is necessary. At the center of the Trindade Laboratory Medicine Center, in Porto, we are told that we can do the test without symptoms, but we will still have to present a medical document. On the 23rd, the technique advances, it is already quite full and there are fewer vacancies to be tested, mainly in the afternoon, but for the 22nd there are still places available.
At the Avenida da Boavista clinic in Porto, there are no more vacancies for the 23rd and only one for the 22nd. In the collection center on Rua da Constitution, also in Porto, there are still some vacancies for Christmas Eve.
“Either hurry to score or later there isn’t”
From the round that the PUBLIC carried out through the Unilabs laboratories distributed throughout the different regions of the country, it is clear that there are few schedules available for the days before Christmas, especially for December 23. In these test centers it is not necessary to present any type of medical statement or present symptoms suggestive of the disease.
Whoever answers the phone at the Unilabs center in Mem Martins says that spending Christmas with his family is “a race against time” because the places to carry out these tests this week are increasingly scarce. “Either hurry up to score or there won’t be any later,” the coach also says. In Alcântara, there are no more vacancies on the 21st, 22nd or 23rd. And in the Charneca do Lumiar laboratory, there are two schedules for the 22nd and only one for the 23rd.
In Viseu there is still space because you are “calling well in advance”, but for the 23rd there are fewer hours available than in previous days. In Aveiro they say there are still vacancies for the two days, although there are few for the day before. The employee warns that “it is best to schedule as soon as possible because people are doing rapid tests to go and spend Christmas with the families.”
In a Gaia laboratory there are no more schedules available for the 23rd, but on the 22nd there are still vacancies. In Porto, in Lordelo do ouro, there is no availability for 23, “it is already full”, and for 22 there are two vacancies. In Paranhos, they only have two vacancies for the day before and four for the day before.
The PUBLIC contacted Unilabs for clarification on the volume of citations, but has not received a response so far.
Authorities do not recommend these tests
António Silva Graça, a doctor specializing in infectious diseases, says that the use of these tests as a diagnosis is limited, especially because they can confer a “false sense of security”. Also, a negative test does not mean that the rules to prevent the spread of COVID-19 can be set aside during Christmas.
“There are several antigen tests from various manufacturers and not all have the same sensitivity. They differ from PCR tests because all, regardless of the manufacturer, are very sensitive “, the doctor begins by explaining. “The more sensitive rapid tests may be appropriate for people without symptoms because they can detect virus proteins in a presymptomatic stage, but they are more useful in symptomatic situations. There is always the possibility of a false negative, a result that is negative when the infection really exists ”, he says.
António Silva Graça gives some good examples of applications of these tests: a specific assessment in a work context, in a home or in the case of Rabo de Peixe, in the Azores, where there is a context of great transmission because it is possible to know where there is and there are no contagions. . “Getting tested randomly, without the epidemiological context or the context of symptoms, may be less helpful than expected. People cannot have a sense of security due to a result that in two days could be another ”, concludes the specialist in infectious diseases.
In November, the Director General of Health had already said that citizens should not take the initiative to carry out the test for screening for covid-19 and that this should only be done with a medical prescription. According to Graça Freitas, the tests are requested and advised by the health authorities “whenever necessary”, and when citizens take the initiative to take the test, they end up obstructing the laboratories and postponing the results of the tests. Also, antigen testing should only be used in specific situations, where PCR testing is not available, for example. Earlier, in October, a joint circular from the DGS, Infarmed and the National Institute of Health Dr. Ricardo Jorge (INSA) reinforced that rapid tests for covid-19 could be applied according to the clinical and epidemiological situation, but should be used with “weighting and reserve ”. with Marta Sousa Coutinho
