Covid Testing

[derek-33]

tell me if i'm missing something here?
covid testing, whats the advantage
if i get tested and days later get the nod i don't have it or had it,so what, coming back from the testing station i could pick it up from a multitude of places and yes i wear a mask where i should i wash my hands when i should and SD
and despite my name has 33 on the end of it i am an astute 76 year old
so this could still confine me to my home if the"over fifties" thinking comes into force ,highly unlikely,so whats the point.

[Barsel]

Perhaps it's to help with the figures of how many people have it. I know of 2 people who have had it and didn't know it was that. Will this test tell you if you have it and if you have had it?

[Mamyalynne]

Were you to test positive then contacts could be sent out to those you had been in close contact with so they could test too and possibly prevent them passing it on.

However if you are well and don't suspect you have the virus - don't get a test.

[Barsel]

If the test is free and doesn't mean shoving a stick down your throat and up your nostrils, then I would be quite happy to take the test.

[woofgang]

it could also be used for routine testing of health staff who have symptoms to identify whether they can work or not to avoid unnecessary sickness absence

[derek-33]

Barsel, so say if i've had it ,seems by all accounts i could get it again ,
and would it stop anyone over 50 being confined to quarters ,no. it just helping with figures and what use are figures,
the vaccine if we get one it the most important thing (ive never had flu in my life even through the 50s 60 asian flu epidemics,)

[Mamyalynne]

If you are taking care of yourself Derek and you don't have symptoms then purely in my opinion you don't need a test.

[Barsel]

Derek, yes of course the vaccine is the most important thing and I expect most countries are still working on that, but if they find that by testing people they find there are more people that have it in a particular area ( like Greater Manchester!) they will give guidance to those areas to stay at home and not mix with other households.

[alavahalf]

A week ago I got a random letter regarding doing your own test at home .. I registered on line, 4 days later the test kit arrived. 5 mins to read the instructions, 10 mins to do the test and half an hour to answer the questions online afterwards ... seems I am all clear !
These tests are seemingly, only 80% accurate, therefore I am none the wiser !

[New Judge]

//...and doesn't mean shoving a stick down your throat and up your nostrils,//

Unless they've changed it, it does.

//...ive never had flu in my life even through the 50s 60 asian flu epidemics,//

That's quite a salient point, derek. I keep mentioning the 1968 "Hong Kong Flu" epidemic as a comparator to this. It killed somewhere between 1m and 4m people worldwide (depending on which report you read) and around 30-50,000 people in the UK (ditto). Nothing closed (apart from a few businesses temporarily when sickness levels were too high to carry on), schools remained open throughout (which was just as well because it lasted, IIRC, around 18 months); nobody walked around masked up; it didn't get much of a mention on the telly; I don't think it was debated in Parliament. In fact, life went on pretty much as usual. Happy days.

[woofgang]

NJ as I understand it, the new kits don't require a throat swab, one is nasal, the other is tongue and cheek

[Barsel]

woofgang it's just a saliva test. Have just watched this demonstration, very interesting.

[woofgang]

yes barsel, I saw that one on the telly

[Peter Pedant]

// I keep mentioning the 1968 "Hong Kong Flu" epidemic as a comparator to this. ............Nothing closed (apart from a few businesses temporarily when sickness levels were too high to carry on), schools remained open throughout //

then it isnt a comparator is it? - or else a false comparator DOOOMMED to give the wrong answer like one of those compute models you dislike

different disease, outcome, hospitalization rates, fatality rates and govt action
and compared to the 1348 model of the black death - the BLM movet has asked me to reclassify as a white life disease .....

is this thread?
are you negative until you are positive?
answer - - - yes

[Peter Pedant]

time spare
I think I will try to describe the new test amidst all the awful crap I am reading - - ( triggered by the tele Scientist saying - "fish" )

the machine looks like those binocular toy things wivva clicker and may put the specimen to be tested froo various baths
( I am intentionally writing this in simple AB english )

specimen is RNA so the first bath is to get it back to DNA - using exciting reverse transcriptase

do the DNA strand and get it to amplify - froo cycles of PCR
this is amaxingly efficient - if one cycle leads to 8 more identical strands and you do it eight times then the number is 8 to power 8. I make this to be 100 m strands - yes a hundred mill

look at a strand of ds DNS - heres one
https://www.nature.com/scitable/topicpage/discovery-of-dna-structure-and-function-watson-397/

the two strands are nt exactly opposite each other
there is a small gap and a large gap ----- along which can lie a third strand of DNA . so synthesis before hand a seeker strand of DNA which corresponds to the bit you are searching and put a little light on top ( fluorescent tip_)
and the test specimen will now glow. - no binding third strand no glow - negative test
use light sensitive doo dah to pick up glow
postive test - all automated

and that boys and gurlz is the basis of the fluorescent in situ hybridisation test ( FISH )
see line one - where the tele scientist let slip the word 'fish'
( "that is the fish you are looking for" tele scientist delphically)

thank you for getting down here
( oh god there is some awful crap on AB tonight)