Breaking the Cycle: Implications of Mass Testing
- Vince Jim Paraunda
- Sep 16, 2020
- 4 min read
Test, isolate, formulate interventions—this repetitive cycle raises a question to the Philippines: why is mass testing still not considered when its effectiveness is already proven?
Addressing the current pandemic of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) has been the given utmost importance to some countries in hopes to follow the COVID-free countries around the world. Manila has realigned P40 million budget to strengthen their mass testing as an initiative to strengthen their health sector for their “own little way for the peace of mind”—a COVID-19 testing that is accessible, efficient, and free for all. With this budget, they aim to increase their testing capability from 89,000 to 112,000 tests per month. In addition to this, the city has launched a tracing application called StaySafe to strengthen COVID-19 contact tracing in different parts of the country.
Amid the availability of the COVID-19 tests in the Philippines, these measures taken will enhance detection and isolation of potential COVID-19 cases. However, improving testing capabilities would only be useful if mass testing is established. The continuous clamor of the people to the health sector of the government for mass testing is imperative to spare the majority of the population from getting infected, as mass testing would decrease and avoid possibilities of lockdowns, preventing further economic collapse.
The Department of Health (DOH) had a lot of matters that were overlooked, and therefore should not hesitate to take on further actions aimed for the safety of the masses. Heavy investment in mass testing should be made to ease quarantines as the country progresses to the new normal. Although strict law enforcement somehow proved to be effective in limiting the number of cases, it can only go so far as mass testing and effective contact tracing are essential steps in the goal of flattening the curve. Aggressive enforcement of such rules resulted in multiple casualties, and worse, more killings. It did not help much in flattening the curve, as reports regarding quarantine violators indicated a shooting incident, supply-hoarders, profiteers, and numerous exploitation to earn during the crisis. Why continue enforcing stricter laws, when science demands medical assistance?
In essence, mass testing means increasing capabilities of conducting COVID-19 tests of the country so that the suspected areas, possible contacts, and the vulnerable section--frontline health workers included--will be tested.
According to Jennifer MacLachan and Benjamin Cowie, epidemiologist and director from the World Health Organization (WHO), one negative impact of mass testing is the increased probability of having false negative and positive results, because, even for a highly specific test, it may still produce more false negatives and positives than there are actual cases. This is a result of both human and system errors.
To minimize errors caused by mass testing, a much more aggressive contract-tracing is conducted by utilizing technology; this can be seen by South Korea’s very effective contact tracing system. Normally, countries use two types of diagnostic tests: swab and serological tests.
To accurately and truly diagnose COVID-19, WHO recommended Nucleic Acid Amplification Tests (NAAT), the most commonly used coronavirus test, to detect the virus responsible for COVID-19. This is what we hear on the news as swab tests, as they are commonly called as such. These tests usually take 24 to 48 hours before the release of results.
On the other hand, Serological tests detect antibodies responsible for fighting COVID-19 and the infected individual at the same time. These are made as counteractive measurements by other countries, such as South Korea’s roadside tests, are being considered as it takes only 10 minutes for the results to be shown.
However, technological innovations on diagnosing COVID-19 are actually being made and could drastically reduce false positives and increase the prospects of mass testing, and the Philippines has its eyes set on it despite neglecting the fact that contact-tracing is still needed.
Studying viability of COVID-19 testing, DOH Undersecretary Maria Rosario Vergeire eyes the potential of the Sheba Medical Center’s pilot program for COVID-19 test that would detect an infected person in less than a second using saliva as a sample. The Israel-based device involved uses UV-Vis spectroscopy partnered with artificial intelligence to compare a healthy individual to that of the sample. The machine’s ability to learn assures increased accuracy the more it is used to analyze samples-- a very good tool for mass testing, as compared to the existing tests. This is a good opportunity to be looked further and to be invested upon. Put it up side-to-side with a much more convenient and effective contact tracing and voilà--a systematic measure against further infection to COVID-19.
The demand for mass testing--albeit risky with its false positives and negatives--should still be done, with the world’s continuous search for innovations in hopes of flattening their own curves. Months of continuous testing without knowing the target is a waste of time; the Philippine government should step up and listen to science and not of law this time around.
REFERENCES
Crisostomo, S. (2020, August 20). DOH studying Israeli saliva test for COVID-19. PhilStar. Retrieved September 11, 2020, from https://www.philstar.com/headlines/2020/08/20/2036591/doh-studying-israeli-saliva-test-covid-19
[PICTURE REFERENCE] David, L. (2020, May 12). TESTING [A health worker conducts a swab test to a suspected COVID-19 patient in Sta. Ana Hospital in Manila on April 17, 2020]. Retrieved September 10, 2020, from https://rappler.com/nation/ecq-alone-wont-curb-coronavirus-mass-testing-needed
GOVPH. (2020a, July 28). NEWS ALERT: Manila realigns P40 million budget to strengthen COVID-19 mass testing. Retrieved September 10, 2020, from http://manila.gov.ph/2020/07/news-alert-manila-realigns-p40-million-budget-to-strengthen-covid-19-mass-testing/
GOVPH. (2020b, September 08). StaySafe.Ph inilunsad bilang opisyal na contract tracing app. Retrieved September 10, 2020, from http://manila.gov.ph/2020/09/staysafe-ph-inlunsad-bilang-opisyal-na-contract-tracing-app/
MacLachlan, J., & Cowie, B. (2020, September 06). The positives and negatives of mass testing for coronavirus. Retrieved September 10, 2020, from https://theconversation.com/the-positives-and-negatives-of-mass-testing-for-coronavirus-137792
Pennic, J. (2020, July 23). Israeli Hospital Launches Rapid COVID-19 Detection Tests Pilot Program. Retrieved September 10, 2020, from https://hitconsultant.net/2020/07/23/israeli-hospital-launches-rapid-covid-19-detection-tests-pilot-program/
Philippine Daily Inquirer. (2020, August 30). Neglecting contact tracing. Retrieved September 10, 2020, from https://opinion.inquirer.net/133145/neglecting-contact-tracing
RIVM. (2020, August 17). Testing for COVID-19. Retrieved September 10, 2020, from https://www.rivm.nl/en/novel-coronavirus-covid-19/testing-for-covid-19
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Talabong, R. (2020, September 08). Over 100,000 quarantine violators arrested in PH since March. Retrieved September 10, 2020, from https://rappler.com/nation/arrested-quarantine-violators-philippines-2020
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