Mass testing doubts

The three highly-urbanized cities in Cebu have decided to postpone the launching of the strategic mass testing. The cities of Cebu, Mandaue, and Lapu-Lapu have allotted two more days to delve deeply into the type of test they will be conducting. The Office of the Presidential Assistant for the Visayas has assisted in procuring about 50,000 test kits which will be used for 10% percent of the whole population of the three cities. However, unlike the PCR test, which is done in the laboratory the rapid test kits will look for anti-bodies of the virus based on a person's blood. The result will be out in 15 minutes or so but will still need post analytics from a laboratory. Once tested positive for the rapid test, the person will undergo another round of tests via the swab to confirm if there is a presence of the virus that brings about COVID.

A lot of people are apprehensive about the rapid test kits. I could be one of them too. Although it would be great to know where we are heading after the Enhanced Community Quarantine by testing a number of the population, it might not be the representative of the whole. We might be heading instead into a dead end with the data that we will be getting. I am also a bit worried about false positives. We might be pouring a lot of effort into these rapid tests but get botched results. What might happen is the overworking of the subnational laboratory that we have at Vicente Sotto Memorial Medical Center. Instead of them working on backlogs for Region 7 and other nearby regions, the might be facing double work.

But I’m no expert in everything. I’m only seeing the situation from a perspective. There is also an issue of social distancing once the tests will take place. How will we be sure the protocols will properly be followed in all barangays? I honestly think that it’s a great plan but we should have our fallback in place. We need concrete plans that would push us towards moving into the normal world. Well, the new normal for that matter.

Everyone wants to know now the real situation too. With the plans of the mass testing is the fear that cases would also rise. Of course it will follow because we only get results once we get people tested. What we should worry about is that a number of them are asymptomatic and might be silent carriers. The carriers who will be in contact with the vulnerable community such as pregnant women, senior citizen, and children might bring the harm to the community instead and raise the mortality rate.

This fight has been a long haul all these past weeks and we are getting tired of hearing the numbers rise. People are calling out for help, we need our lives back. Please, let us work hand-in-hand for this one.