Mystery test
Officials explain how a positive test doesn’t always mean the disease is active
Officials tried to explain Wednesday how a patient who seemed to have recovered from COVID-19 could end up testing positive a few days later.
The province’s health minister and chief medical officer of health tried to explain Wednesday how a patient who seemed to have recovered from COVID-19 could end up testing positive a few days later.
Dr. John Haggie and Dr. Janice Fitzgerald said the near 100 per cent sensitivity of the swab they use to test for the coronavirus is both a good thing and a bad thing.
“Certainly, from my understanding, the COVID patients from intensive care now will not go back to the general floor,” Haggie said. “In terms of the criteria for pronouncing a person Covid-recovered or COVID-FREE, there is a clinical context that some people have significant other conditions with them.”
He said those criteria are based on clinical (symptombased) diagnosis as well as testing, though the former may change in light of the recent anomaly.
Their remarks come on the heels of a controversial quarantine of 99 health care workers from the Health Sciences Centre in St. John’s last weekend. The measure was taken after a patient was transferred to a general floor of the hospital from the intensive care unit upon testing negative on two separate occasions. Two subsequent tests conducted three days later came back as positive and negative. As a precaution, the patient was transferred back to the ICU.
Two further tests have been negative, leading clinicians to believe the positive test may have been an outlier, and the patient may be experiencing secondary health problems.
“It’s not so much that it’s a false positive, as much as it’s the detection of (genetic) material, but with the inability to cause disease,” Fitzgerald said. “That’s one of the things you have to look for with this type of test.”
Meanwhile, Haggie and Premier Dwight Ball insisted they were not aware of the magnitude of the quarantine until after Monday’s video briefing.
“The issue of the magnitude or the scope of this problem, other than it being the simple transfer of a patient from intensive care to the floor, was not apparent to me until later on Monday,” Haggie said, adding he was only aware it was an “operational issue” until that point.
Ball similarly said he was not apprised until Monday afternoon.
PLANT TRANSPLANTS
On another day of no new COVID-19 cases being reported, Fitzgerald said she was pleased with the continued flatlining of cases.
“As we adjust to our new reality for the foreseeable future and begin to regain some of the liberties we have lost, please know that life as we knew it will at some time resume, but how fast we get there depends on each other,” she said.
Of the cumulative 250 positive cases known in the province, only 12 remain active.
But Fitxgerald had her usual warnings about letting one’s guard down.
In particular, she said Mother’s Day on May 10 will obviously be a challenge to those wanting to celebrate with a parent in long-term care. Stick with virtual greetings, she said, and check with the facility about what can and can’t be dropped off for pickup.
“The best gift that you can give to your loved ones right now is one that helps protect their health and safety, so that you can enjoy future celebrations together.”
The premier said his administration is working closely with businesses to see what can be done to help and what new ideas might help get them back on their feet.
For the agricultural industry, Ball said the vegetable transplant program will be almost doubled this year.
The number of transplants distributed to farmers in 2018 was 256,000, and jumped to 1.7 million in 2019. This year, it will be about 3 million.
The plants are started at the Wooddale Centre for Agriculture and Forestry Development.
“Of course, we could use a little help as always from Mother Nature and hope for some good growing weather in the coming months,” Ball said.
IN OTHER DEVELOPMENTS WEDNESDAY:
Haggie said that as of last week, more than 6,000 elective surgical procedures are on hold because of COVID19 cancellations.
The province is forgiving loan payments and interest for tourism businesses until December as one measure to support the struggling industry.
The health minister gave a belated shout-out to the team implementing midwifery in the province in recognition of the Day of the Midwife, and a nod to nurses who are celebrating National Nurses Week.