No COVID-19 testing for persons without symtoms

PERSONS IN St Vincent and the Grenadines (SVG) who do not exhibit symptoms of COVID-19 will not be tested for the virus.

Chief Medical Officer (CMO) Dr Simone Keizer- Beache, while speaking at a press conference last Friday, said there are two different types of tests: the PCR (polymerase chain reaction), which looks for DNA and rapid testing, which looks for antibodies.

She explained that PCR test will detect a positive person usually after five days of symptoms.

“…So that even if we did a test on someone who was asymptomatic, and it came back negative — presuming we were doing it here, because as we said, CARPHA (Caribbean Public Health Agency) will not do a test on somebody who is asymptomatic. If we did a test, here in St Vincent, using PCR on somebody who was asymptomatic and we got a negative result, that still will not allow us to say that

that person is not COVID positive,” the chief medical officer said.

The CMO said rapid tests usually detect positive results after seven to 12 days of symptoms.

She also noted that false negatives could result in both instances.

“ And therefore, it will be a waste of resources and it will not give somebody peace of mind that they are free, because that person will still have to stay in quarantine for the entire 14 day period and we would still have to retest them if anything, so it would be a false sense of security,” she said.