Among Americans, COVID testing services and solutions are perhaps the most discussed aspects of the novel coronavirus pandemic. While the country is employing various measures and tactics to control the spread of the virus such as home quarantine, self-isolation, bans on public gathering, travel restrictions, many health authorities, and experts have also suggested that the availability of COVID-19 testing services across the different regions of the country can help in mitigating the community transmission.
To facilitate the accurate tracking of the coronavirus’ spread, Co-Defend is providing the best-in-class COVID testing solutions and services. We are also moving quickly to develop our coronavirus testing protocols and plans that are suitable to new information, supply and PPE availability, coronavirus testing technologies, and updated guidance issued by the WHO, CDC, and health authorities.
In this article, we have discussed everything you need to know about COVID-19 testing services and solutions.
What are the Common Symptoms of Coronavirus?
If you’re going for a private coronavirus test, you must pay attention to the common symptoms of coronavirus including fever, flu, coughing, and respiratory difficulties.
What Should You Do In Case You Have Symptoms of Coronavirus?
You should immediately visit a doctor, call the helpline number, or contact the Co-Defend team if:
- You find it difficult to deal with your COVID-19 symptoms at home.
- Your health condition is getting worst from worse.
- You still have symptoms and do not feel better after a week.
If you’re facing the above-mentioned situations, you should immediately go for COVID testing services in which the genetic material of the pathogen is analyzed to confirm the presence of COVID-19. The test can be done privately.
Who Should Go for COVID-19 Test?
In the current scenario, COVID testing is prioritized for:
- Symptomatic and hospitalized patients or individuals who are about to be hospitalized for a procedure.
- Health care personnel and individuals in group living facilities.
- Frontline workers and other essential social service workers.
- People who are at high risk of getting infected from individuals in high containment regions.
What Does a Coronavirus Test Involve?
For the COVID-19 test, you need to give mainly two samples – A nasal and throat test.
- Before performing the coronavirus test, the specialist needs to disinfect his hands with sanitizer (with at least 60-70% of alcohol content) and wear clean gloves.
- The specialist then inserts the first swab into each nasal orifice and moves it around in a circular motion.
- The nasal swab is then placed in a tube called the Universal Transport Medium (UTM).
- After that, the specialist takes the second swab to check the throat. It is inserted until it is inserted appropriately into the pharyngeal space. The COVID-19 tester then rotates it for at least 10 times.
- The second swab is also stored in a UTM.
Collecting a sample is easy, however, determining whether a person is a COVID-19 positive is a complicated task.
To accurately detect if the patient’s sample has the virus’s genetic material (RNA), a test is performed known as Reverse Transcription Polymerase Chain Reaction. This testing method turns any viral RNA into DNA. The converted DNA is replicated numerous times until there are enough copies to detect with a specialized tool known as a quantitative PCR instrument.
If the sample has genetic material from the virus, then the patient is infected with COVID-19. Normally, it takes about 24-72 hours to get results of the COVID-19 test and the results generally are very accurate.
Please note that it might happen that in the initial stages of virus detection, COVID-19 may not be detected with the coronavirus test.
Why Should You Go for COVID Testing Services?
Co-Defend brings a unique and effective methodology to appropriately test for coronavirus to accurately identify COVID+ persons and reduce the spread of the virus. Below are the major reasons why Co-Defend is working proactively to support coronavirus testing amidst the global pandemic.
- Identify Areas with Maximum COVID+ Cases
Through our COVID-19 testing services, we help our cities understand the high containment zones to inform the degree of public health intervention to contain the spread of coronavirus.
- Trace COVID+ Contacts
After we diagnose and identify the COVID+ persons, our team collaborates with the patients to inform and monitor their close contacts who are likely to fall sick.
- Provide the Best Guidance to Patients
While we suggest people with cold and flu symptoms to self-isolate for a few days until they feel better, there are many people such as healthcare workers and caregivers who are at high risk of getting infected. Providing them with the coronavirus test helps in informing their decision about how to implement self-isolation protocols and plans.
What Do We Do to Ensure the Availability of COVID Testing Services?
We, at Co-Defend, do our best to explore all possible opportunities to increase the number of patients we recommend for COVID-19 testing services. Here’s what we are doing to make our COVID testing solutions and services readily available:
- We Set Up Open Air COVID Testing Sites
Our team sets up outdoor COVID-19 testing sites in several cities to increase the volume of patients while using little personal protective equipment (PPE). We believe this strategy is effective in providing safe and efficient COVID-19 testing services to our patients.
- We Partner with Healthcare Systems
We partner and collaborate with some of the most renowned hospitals and healthcare facilities across the country to explore opportunities for joint COVID testing services and efforts.
- We Partner with Private Testing Labs
To ensure timely processing of our patients’ specimen samples for COVID-19 testing, we partner and work with commercial testing labs and prestigious health system partners to take advantage of laboratory services that cater to the needs of our members.
- We Evaluate Home COVID Testing Solutions
As many companies are developing home testing kits, Co-Defend’s team is exploring and evaluating all options to find tests that would offer better ease of access, greater accuracy, and quick turnaround time for COVID-19 test results.
Wrapping Up
These are some of the important things that you need to know about COVID testing services and solutions. To better understand the different COVID-19 testing methodologies, you may consult with our COVID-19 testing team that is available 24×7 round the clock.
FAQs
Q.1. What are Rapid Antigen Tests? Are they effective in determining coronavirus?
Ans. A rapid antigen test for COVID-19 is a rapid point-of-care nasopharyngeal swab test that directly determines the presence or absence of coronavirus antigen in the patient’s body. These tests produce results within 15-30 minutes.
Rapid antigen tests are less sensitive than the more accurate viral or genetic tests and are effective for people in the early stages of the infection when a patient’s viral load is the highest. However, you must remember that no test is 100% accurate. There are chances of some cases to be missed which are known as false negatives. While positive tests tend to be accurate, negative tests need to be understood with caution, especially in a high-risk zone or when used on asymptomatic persons.
Q.2. How is a nasal swab test different from the antigen test?
Ans. The test that requires a nasal swab (also known as a molecular PCR test) takes samples of cells and fluid from your respiratory system. This test helps in identifying specific genes for the SARS-CoV-2 virus that causes COVID-19. The specimen is collected with a long nasal swab that is inserted appropriately into the passageway between your nose and the back of your throat.
An antigen test for COVID-19 (also known as serology test) collects a blood sample that may be used to identify past infection of the virus that causes COVID-19. This test checks your body’s immune response to coronavirus. Antibodies are detected in the blood after the individual gets an infection. However, in the case of COVID-19, we haven’t completely figured out yet what the presence of its antibodies means.
Q.3. Where can I get tested for COVID-19?
Ans. At Co-Defend, we provide the best-in-class COVID-19 Testing Services and home testing kits. We’ve also partnered with some of the most renowned laboratories and health care systems to leverage their testing services.
Please contact us for more information about our COVID testing solutions and services or to schedule an appointment.