A diagnostic result for a Covid-19 test has to be prompt as delay could hamper the fight against the coronavirus pandemic.
On Wednesday last, the swab sample report of an 86-year-old man from Pattan Baramulla was received five days posthumously. While good sense prevailed between local authorities and the bereaved family in carrying out the last rites of the man immediately as per covid-19 protocol, the delay in getting the results surely impacted contact tracing. One never knows how many people might have come in contact with the man and contracted the disease. Even nobody knows with precision if the immediate family members are infected in the first place and those who came in their contact having visited them to offer condolences or otherwise. Those who visited the bereaved family would also have not taken the care which otherwise they would have taken had the test report be on the time.
They might not have visited them at all and in the process would have avoided being possible carriers of the disease given the fact that almost 80 percent are asymptomatic. There must be anxiety and stress among those who would have come in contact with the diseased directly or with the bereaved family.
The silver lining in this pandemic for Jammu and Kashmir is the relatively low case fatality rate and the high recovery rate. However the delay in diagnostic results should be avoided whatever the reasons and if there are shortcomings on account of manpower or kits, the same should be addressed without delay.
The delay in obtaining RT-PCR test results must be also causing anxiety and stress among those undergoing hospital and home quarantine. There is no room for complacency. The covid-19 is a relatively new infection and expert advices are mainly based on several hypotheses. While one would hope that the good run as far as low death and high recovery would continue, logic demands need to face the challenges rather than banking on the hope for the good. Efforts should rigorously continue to keep the low death rate by protecting the old and the infirm from exposure and improve the recovery rate.
It is imperative to ensure testing is ramped up and equally important is to ensure diagnostic results remain to be prompt. The government shall also increase awareness about people as regards symptoms and other allied things in order to encourage people to come forward early. It would help to maintain the focus and help in achieving what the administration would like to achieve: contain the disease spread as much as possible.
On Wednesday last, the swab sample report of an 86-year-old man from Pattan Baramulla was received five days posthumously. While good sense prevailed between local authorities and the bereaved family in carrying out the last rites of the man immediately as per covid-19 protocol, the delay in getting the results surely impacted contact tracing. One never knows how many people might have come in contact with the man and contracted the disease. Even nobody knows with precision if the immediate family members are infected in the first place and those who came in their contact having visited them to offer condolences or otherwise. Those who visited the bereaved family would also have not taken the care which otherwise they would have taken had the test report be on the time.
They might not have visited them at all and in the process would have avoided being possible carriers of the disease given the fact that almost 80 percent are asymptomatic. There must be anxiety and stress among those who would have come in contact with the diseased directly or with the bereaved family.
The silver lining in this pandemic for Jammu and Kashmir is the relatively low case fatality rate and the high recovery rate. However the delay in diagnostic results should be avoided whatever the reasons and if there are shortcomings on account of manpower or kits, the same should be addressed without delay.
The delay in obtaining RT-PCR test results must be also causing anxiety and stress among those undergoing hospital and home quarantine. There is no room for complacency. The covid-19 is a relatively new infection and expert advices are mainly based on several hypotheses. While one would hope that the good run as far as low death and high recovery would continue, logic demands need to face the challenges rather than banking on the hope for the good. Efforts should rigorously continue to keep the low death rate by protecting the old and the infirm from exposure and improve the recovery rate.
It is imperative to ensure testing is ramped up and equally important is to ensure diagnostic results remain to be prompt. The government shall also increase awareness about people as regards symptoms and other allied things in order to encourage people to come forward early. It would help to maintain the focus and help in achieving what the administration would like to achieve: contain the disease spread as much as possible.
