My lingering concerns about Covid-19
The Department of health reported the first case of Covid-19 in the country on January 30, 2020, involving a female Chinese national. On March 7, the first local transmission of Covid-19 was confirmed. Five months later, Filipinos are getting more scared because of the continued spike in the number of confirmed coronavirus cases in the country. I cannot help but raise some of my lingering questions about the pandemic in the bar of public opinion, if only to ventilate my concerns about this most pressing public health issue in the country today.
For instance, they say that the coronavirus is a new virus. Whether it’s a mutation from another type of coronavirus or whatever, we don’t know. But if it’s indeed a new strain of coronavirus, how come that in just a matter of weeks, testing kits for the virus were already available?
Where it would take months or even years to develop medicines or a vaccine for a particular ailment, how were the coronavirus testing kits developed that fast and how accurate are they?
They also say that community transmission of the virus can also occur from asymptomatic persons, or an infected person who does not have the symptoms. But how would
a person be considered asymptomatic carrier of the virus? What kind of test was conducted and how accurate was the test?
Coming from a family of doctors, I know that part of the initial questions asked by doctors from patients during consultations are their health issues and all manifested symptoms. Then the doctor would ask for the medical history of the patient. All these information would be used by the doctor for his diagnosis of the patient’s health issues. But without any symptom for the coronavirus disease, how can a person be considered asymptomatic carrier of the virus?
The daily Covid-19 update is also a major concern that continues to bug me. The report says the country’s number of confirmed Covid-19 cases as of July 17, 2020 had already reached 61,266 with 1,643 recorded deaths and 21,440 recoveries. Going by the numbers, what the report is saying is, out of the total number of confirmed Covid-19 cases, less the number of deaths and recoveries, there were 38,183 active cases in the country as of July 17, 2020.
But where are they now? Are they confined in hospitals, if the country has that number of hospital beds? Are they quarantined in designated isolation and/or quarantine areas, or are they quarantined in their own homes? Knowing this information would lessen our fear of getting the virus from unsuspecting carriers.
The Covid-19 testing protocol is another issue that continues to perplex my mind. At least there are two methods of Covid-19 testing approved by the government and mostly used in the fight against the coronavirus. The rapid test, which gives quick results but according to studies in the US, has a low accuracy of only 10 percent. The nasal swab test has a better accuracy than the rapid test, but its results would take at least three days or even longer to get.
Moreover, the result of the swab test could be affected by the timing of the test, how the swab specimen was taken, and how the specimen was handled. Take for instance the account of somebody I know who claims that they were herded to a Covid-19 testing center for the swab test. After the test, they were sent home for their mandatory quarantine procedure until the test results are released.
Unfortunately, though, what should have been a three-day wait lasted for more than week.
Meanwhile, while waiting for the test results, they were not only deprived of their income from work because they had to be quarantined, but they might have also contracted the virus during the waiting period. Would this not aggravate the already scary Covid-19 situation in the country?
And, finally, the proper way of choosing and using the face mask should also be elucidated openly to the people, especially at this time when studies have shown that the virus is also airborne. Thus, aside from its transmission through respiratory droplets, the virus can also be transmitted through the air. The public should be well informed about the importance social distancing and the proper way of using face masks for protection, including the health relevance of using only clean face masks.
Dr. Jesus Lim Arranza is the chairman of the Federation of Philippine Industries and Fight Illicit Trade; a broad-based, multisectoral movement intended to protect consumers, safeguard government revenues and shield legitimate industries from the ill effects of smuggling.