LAFAYETTE, La. (KLFY)- Moving through the reopening phases requires adequate testing capabilities in each state. I spoke with two doctors about the tests and the plans to move forward.
“The serologies, first of all, are good for essentially identifying who in the population has been infected specifically referencing COVID 19,” said Dr. Robert Aertker said.
Aertker practices internal medicine and also has a degree in immunopathology. He explained that COVID-19 is only one in a family of coronaviruses, and all serology or antibody tests aren’t all created equal.
“We’re looking towards our larger institutions at larger research and academic hospitals that have refined this sort of testing serology strategy such that they get just the right kid on the block so to speak and that’s COVID-19, no brothers or sisters,” Aertker said. “So you’ve got to be careful about which ones you’re using and you need to, if you’re going to get tested, ask.”
The blood test is recommended for people who work in hospitals or clinics or someone who lives with a person who tests positive, but Dr. Aertker says timing is important.
”You don’t want to do antibody testing in the first 14 days because your body has not identified, fought off, recognized, and this is the key, remembered that virus, and your serology is just basically you blood’s memory of having seen COVID-19,” he said.
“The nasal swab test to determine if you are currently infected is much more reliable, but Dr. Aertker says it must be done correctly to get an accurate result.”
It is operator dependent so if they didn’t get back there to tickle you real well, you’ve got to have a good sample from the back of the nose and throat to give you a good sampling to identify disease.”The nasal swab test won’t catch every case if it’s administered too early.
”That’s why we don’t necessarily do asymptomatic testing on everybody out there. If we did we would give people a false sense of security,” said Dr. Amanda Logue said.
Logue is the medical director with Lafayette General Health, notes that a negative result for either test doesn’t mean a person can’t get COVID 19 in the future.
“So we’re really encouraging the community to be sure that the timing is right so that they don’t waste their time getting tested too soon and then they can trust the values a little bit more,” he said.
Dr. Logue believes that the stay-at-home order did what it was designed to do: keeping the health care industry in Louisiana from being overwhelmed with COVID-19 cases.
Both she and Dr. Aertker will be watching closely the numbers as we begin to move around.
“I am concerned that the public will swing the pendulum too far by lifting the stay at home orders a little bit. I’m worried that we go back to what we were doing before all this happened,” Logue said.
“I’m highly, highly concerned. You have to be conscious help us fight the battle because I think we will see an uptick. But I pray and I hope that we as a community state and country that we stay diligent, and that’s the keyword: stay diligent,” Aertker said.
Both doctors tell me they have seen a decrease in the number of cases, but COVID 19 will be around for the foreseeable future.
Lafayette General Health will continue to monitor the situation and make adjustments as necessary within their system.
