There is an urgent need to ramp up testing procedures, as the new wave of COVID-19 continues to flare up and infect huge masses across the globe.
Test results make an important part of the health sector these days. Based on the test results, an individual chooses to go into quarantine at their house or at some hospital, or take professional medical guidance. Public health officials and the health sector use this information to keep tabs on the situation of the pandemic in a particular state. Policymakers use these resources to make decisions on reopening schools and corporate businesses. Therefore, boosting up the entire process of acquiring test results is a very important part of decision making during this pandemic.
What is the percent positive concept?
The percentage of all coronavirus tests performed that are actually positive, or (positive test/total test) * 100% is what makes the “percent positive” data. It is also sometimes called the person positive rate or positivity rate.
This information is used by the health sector to track the level of coronavirus transmission at a particular moment in the community |
It also helps them answer the question of whether the state is conducting enough tests for the amount of people who are getting infected |
If the percent positive result is high, either the number of positive tests is too high, or the number of total tests is too low |
A higher percent positive shows that the transmission of the virus is pretty high and there are infected people in the community who have not tested using the protocol |
This information is extremely significant as it gives us an indication how widespread infection is in the area where the testing has been conducted and whether levels of testing are at par with the transmission |
What does a high percent positive mean?
A high percent positive indicates that more testing should be done properly and that the time is probably not a good time to withdraw restrictions imposed to reduce transmission |
High percentage of positive tests suggests that the infection rates are increasing due to high transmission in the community and it might as well be the perfect time to add new restrictions to curb the outflow of the disease |
How high is too high?
The magnitude of concern is directly proportional to how high the percent positive is |
The threshold for the percent positive being “too high” is 5% |
The World Health Organisation announced last year, in May, that the percent positive, if it remains below 5% for at least two weeks, the government might consider reopening |
If the Covid transmission is brought under control, the threshold might be lowered over time |
If we successfully bring the threshold down to a lower limit, then social restrictions could be withdrawn by the government and large gatherings of people might become possible |
What is herd immunity?
As per WHO, 'Herd immunity', also known as 'population immunity', is the indirect protection from an infectious disease that happens when a population is immune either through vaccination or immunity developed through previous infection. WHO supports achieving 'herd immunity' through vaccination, not by allowing a disease to spread through any segment of the population, as this would result in unnecessary cases and deaths.
Vaccines train our immune systems to create proteins that fight disease, known as ‘antibodies’, just as would happen when we are exposed to a disease but – crucially – vaccines work without making us sick. Vaccinated people are protected from getting the disease in question and passing on the pathogen, breaking any chains of transmission
Does a low percent positive mean that the population has herd immunity?
- A low percent positive does not mean that a population has acquired herd immunity
- It simply means that the level of transmission within the community relative to the amount of testing is low at that point in time
- If a population acquires herd immunity in future through widespread vaccination programmes, coronavirus transmission will fall and the percent positive will also fall
How can we reduce the percent positive when it is too high?
There are two ways to lower the percent positive:
- By reducing the amount of coronavirus transmission or by increasing the number of people getting tested. These two things are supposed to go simultaneously within a country. If one place is doing more testing and responding appropriately by following all the medical guidelines to positive tests, or making sure that people who do test positive are isolated or quarantined, then the amount of transmission should go down over time.
- Even without testing, stricter regulations and restrictions regarding physical distancing, avoiding large gatherings, wearing masks and using hand sanitizers are all the different ways to reduce transmission.
Why does more testing help?
Lack of enough testing in an area can make infected people go undetected by the public health officials |
If the correct number of infections does not get counted, then infected people cannot isolate themselves or seek proper medical treatment. These people then act as the source of several other infections within the community |
People who do test positive should isolate themselves for at least two weeks, and avoid contact with the outer world to prevent the virus from spreading further |
Without enough testing, the spreading occurs silently. Severe cases begin to surge, thus overwhelming the hospitals and the entire healthcare system, all of a sudden, and these outbreaks are much harder to control |
If the transmissions were detected earlier then the severity of this outbreak could have been prevented, by testing more people |
Therefore people need to receive their test results quickly. When they have to wait several days to get their results back, it becomes harder for them to isolate themselves, and by the time a positive result comes back, the person might as well have affected several more people |
Tracking the number of positive cases is important, but what is more important, is the practice of knowing the exact number of infections within a state by testing more people |
If more people get tested, the percent positive will go down |
What should we do if we are at a place with a high percent positive?
- If we are at a place with a high percent positive, then that means that the level of coronavirus transmission within that area is very high.
- One should be very careful about taking appropriate covid safety measures, like wearing masks, washing hands, maintaining physical distance, and staying 6 feet away from people to avoid risking infection with a potential patient.
- With the onset of symptoms, one must get tested as quickly as possible.
- If the person has likely been in contact with infected people or with people who are at risk of developing an infection, then they also have to get tested as a mode of protection.
If we are at a place with a low percent positive, does that mean we are immune?
If we are at a place with a low percent positive, that does not mean that we are immune |
It only means that coronavirus transmission, related to testing, is low at the moment in that particular area |
The risk of getting infected is lower within that area at that time, but it is also important to realise that coronavirus transmission can increase at any time within a community, very quickly |
We should keep taking all the safety measures to keep the transmission levels low, even if we are at a place with a low percent positive and keep our guards high up |
Only then we would be able to break the chain of rampant transmission and trickle back to our normal life again |
Information for this article has been extracted from a study made by John Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health. [Authors: David Dowdy, Gypsyamber D’Souza] and WHO website