Only critically ill patients should be tested for Covid, recommends industry entity

Due to the risk of shortage of Covid-19 tests, Abramed (Brazilian Association of Diagnostic Medicine) recommends that laboratories prioritize tests on patients according to the severity scale. More severe patients should be given priority over those with milder symptoms.

The entity says that the ideal scenario would be mass testing, but in the face of impossibility, the recommended thing is to test those who have serious symptoms, hospitalized patients, surgical patients, people in the risk group, healthcare workers and service employees. essential.

Abramed recommends interrupting the testing of those who have only had contact with infected, asymptomatic patients and people with mild symptoms, who must, however, remain isolated until the scenario is normalized.

The demand for Covid tests has increased with the flu (influenza) outbreak and the increase in Covid-19 cases. The Raia Drogasil pharmacy chain has suspended tests due to lack of stocks, but said it seeks to normalize the situation this week.

It will only be possible to schedule a test on the network units when the supply is normalized. Raia or Drogasil pharmacies that have tests remaining can still use them. Interested parties should contact the establishments for more information.

report of leaf showed that positive tests rose again during the holiday season, according to monitoring by Abrafarma (an association that brings together large pharmaceutical networks). The total number of positives jumped from 524 on December 1, when 10,000 tests were performed, to 5,334 on December 29, when there were 31,332 tests — equivalent to 5% and 17% of the total, respectively. The survey covers 3,000 pharmacies in the country.

Since December, interested parties have had difficulty scheduling Covid-19 tests at drugstores in the municipality of São Paulo. While before the holidays it was possible to make an appointment for the same day, during the end of the year the patient would have to wait for up to 5 days.

To know if the person has Covid at the time of testing, the most sought after tests are antigen and RT-PCR.

Antigen tests are available in the “swab” modality, in which a swab is introduced through the nose to collect the sample, and orally. Some of them also combine testing for Covid-19 and influenza types A and B in the same product.

In RT-PCR tests, the sample is collected through a swab in the nose and often also in the throat. It is also offered in the modality in which the collection is done by saliva, with a sample that varies from 2 ml to 5 ml.

The antigen test result is available in about 15 minutes. The RT-PCR result, on the other hand, can come out in four hours in some laboratories. In others, you have to wait up to 72 hours.