Testing for Covid-19 is still important, but the numbers are dropping

“While the public may view vaccination as a priority right now – and it is a priority – widespread testing is still essential for infection control,” said Romney Humphries, medical director of the Vanderbilt Clinical Microbiology Lab. University Medical Center, during an infectious disease. Society of America briefing Thursday.

That’s about 26% below the average in mid-January, when the United States peaked on a seven-day average of more than 2 million tests reported on January 15. The rate started to rise again, but only slightly.

She added that while infection rates have dropped, they are still high and in some places higher than during the summer.

The Daily White House Covid-19 Team Community Profile Reports tracked various indicators, including testing.

In terms of testing rate, a daily seven-day average of at least five tests per 100 people is ideal. But in a report released this week, only five states met that threshold in a seven-day period, placing them in the “dark green” category: Rhode Island, Vermont, Massachusetts, New York and Alaska.

Eight states were in “red” or “dark red,” which meant there was less than one test per 100 people. States in this category were Oklahoma, Missouri, South Dakota, Mississippi, New Hampshire, California, and Georgia.

With the infection now spreading, Hayden said she doesn’t think the country is in a place where it can relax overall strategies and cut testing.

Testing is also an important tool for reasons beyond diagnostics, including determining quarantine requirements and tracking the progress of the pandemic, Humphries said.

“I think one of the biggest messages is for the public: if you have symptoms, it’s so important for you to go in and get tested and find out if you’re positive or not,” said Humphries.

What is being observed in the labs and from the data is a reduction in the number of people coming in for symptom-based testing, according to Humphries.

What happens in the “red” and “dark red” states

California has seen one of the biggest drops in testing rates since mid-January, according to federal data. The state health department said the volume of testing declined for the fifth week in a row. The seven-day average fell to about 181,000 tests per day, compared to about 230,000 tests per day.

The California Department of Public Health asked the labs that found a drop in PCR test orders over the past two weeks and found that supply was not a factor. On the contrary, people are just not tested.

In Oklahoma, people just aren’t looking for a test, Travis Kirkpatrick, assistant commissioner of the Oklahoma State Department of Health, told CNN.

He attributed this to several factors, including a high vaccination rate in the state, warmer weather, and lower hospitalization and case rates. Kirkpatrick also believes his condition is experiencing some Covid fatigue.

“We have continued to offer testing. We continue to find ways to expand testing,” he said. “There are all kinds of ways we try to keep pushing testing politically, from a public health perspective, and then come up with it. But the lack of numbers for testing, I think we attribute a lot more to appetite than to anything else. ”

It’s not yet time to sound the alarm, Kirkpatrick said, but his department is wary that people think they don’t need to be tested. He said Oklahoma would continue to invest in testing, calling it a better monitoring tool.

How “dark green” states get there

In Vermont, one of five states where testing is still at high rates, the focus on contact tracing helps a lot, said Tracy Dolan, deputy public health commissioner at the ministry. of Vermont Health.

Plus, the tests are used to help people exit quarantine earlier, Dolan told CNN.

“In the beginning, we created more aggressive policies than the CDC,” she said.

“The state has a strict travel quarantine policy, and the best way out is to test early.

Vermont has also prioritized testing from the start, Dolan said, making it widely available and free. Most places in Vermont are within a 30-minute drive of a test site, and most sites are open seven days a week. The state draws additional testing resources in the event of an outbreak and has a “regular” surveillance test.

Local health officials are encouraging testing through targeted social media in case of an increase in cases and communities and leaders have supported testing from the start, Dolan said.