Lessons for Resilience
Consider strategic targeting of testing people for COVID-19
Topic:
Health
Keywords:
Public health
Content:
When the intensity of the crisis reduces, there is more opportunity for targeted measures that limit virus transmission. Testing should be pro-active and strategically targeted. Consider establishing 3 categories of people and places, and create suitable testing guidelines for each one, including:
People with symptoms. Consider testing this group immediately:
- Establish a system with quick consultation, diagnosis and testing (upon medical advice)
- Use antigen tests as results are available quickly
- Conduct antigen tests via saliva samples to minimize the risk and burden on patients and medical staff
People without symptoms, who have been assessed with a high pre-test risk of infection, and/or who work in high-risk areas. Consider testing this group pro-actively:
- Consider places that require close physical contact such as hospitals, senior-care facilities, or nightlife/entertainment-related industries
- Because of the high risk of infection and high pre-test risk of infection, consider thorough and rapid testing for this group
People without symptoms, who have been assessed with a low pre-test risk of infection, and who work in low-risk areas. Build consensus regarding action for this group:
- Include people who, for peace of mind, want to be tested in order to conduct societal, economic, cultural activities etc.
- Consider that testing is not perfectly accurate and only reflects a person's condition at one point in time. Continuous testing would be required to fully monitor the condition of an individual
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