THE POSITIVE PROFESSOR
SOCIAL media’s voice of calm Karol Sikora has been signed up by the Daily Express. Readers can now enjoy his soothing advice in these troubled times which has won him hundreds of thousands of followers on Twitter. If you need reassuring everything’s going to be all right read Professor Positivity.
FEW will forget the words of Dr Tedros Ghebreyesus, the World Health Organisation Director – “Test, test, test” – just as the pandemic went global in March. It seems now seems an age ago.
As we emerge, the need to test remains as important as ever. We need to hunt down the virus to the last case. And we must ensure that we have powerful surveillance systems in place to monitor any resurgence.
As shops and businesses open, international travel restarts, and schools and colleges spring back to life, we need to carefully check that the virus is fading.
The great plagues of medieval Europe ended when people regained enough confidence to go about their normal life. In those days doctors had no clue as to the real cause and there was no test at all. We are more fortunate now – although there are still some unknowns.
We now need to monitor four things. First, symptoms – the persistent cough, fever, lack of sense of smell and shortness of breath. NHS 111 is doing that carefully for us 24/7 and producing crucial surveillance maps. The second is to take the temperatures of all those joining any group activity, workplace or transport facility.
Third, testing for the virus is now available for anybody with symptoms in the UK. Detecting the specific genetic sequences of SARS-CoV-2 involves taking a high nose swab. Currently this has to be sent to a lab. It is likely that within weeks, systems will become available that print the results within a few minutes at the testing station.
The fourth monitoring tool is the antibody test. This is useful for monitoring the prevalence of the infection but doesn’t really help an individual much. That’s because other immunological mechanisms based on cells are probably more important at protecting us.
We want to classify everybody into one of four groups – susceptible, actively infected, recovered and protected. The irony is that half of those that have recovered have never been unwell at all. That’s why testing is so important as we regain our old lives.