By the time you read this, Jeff will have just had his 15th coronavirus test.
Key points:
- Allergies, day care and border restrictions have contributed to the millions of tests
- A professor says Australia is a prime candidate for "pooled testing"
- He says it is possible to test targeted populations for COVID-19 every week
So far, they've all been negative. Phew!
He will rack up about 30 before the year is over.
"The first half a dozen I wasn't too fussed about it, but I'm over it now," he said.
"It's the world we live in now, isn't it?"
Jeff is a truck driver, hauling loads from Brisbane to Western Australia.
His route takes him through NSW and South Australia, so when he arrives in WA he says he's required to have a test. Same for when he returns home.
On his current schedule, he's averaging about two tests a week.
"We had a couple of weeks off work because of [COVID-19] when everything just died in the arse, around the start of it," he said.
"Then things were getting back to normal, everything was going to be sweet, then Victoria just being Victoria, it exploded and here we are."
Jeff has since gotten to know nurses on both sides of the country as he does his rounds, describing it as the "weirdest time" in his 27 years on the road.
"I walk around the hospital and they call out, 'Hey Jeff, how are ya going?'"
"I said to the nurses the other day, can you put it down as positive, so I don't have to do it for two weeks?"
Jeff isn't the only one tallying up the tests.
To date, there have been more than 8.7 million completed across the country.
| States | Tests |
|---|---|
| Victoria | 3,174,221 |
| NSW | 3,055,173 |
| Queensland | 1,236,847 |
| Western Australia | 487,990 |
| South Australia | 551,799 |
| Tasmania | 117,087 |
| ACT | 106,976 |
| Northern Territory | 58,329 |
| Australia | 8,788,422 |
Source: Covid Live website, as of October 31
When the ABC asked people to share their stories on testing, it revealed the myriad reasons people had lined up multiple times to get the swab.
"I've had almost 10 tests so far. I work in hospitality and am super vigilant/don't trust my co-workers who live in big share houses full of people who don't follow the rules."
"I'm a registered nurse who works with high-risk populations, inpatient haematology and oncology patients … we're having fortnightly surveillance testing."
"I've been tested 7 times (I think!) I had a baby in June and in between being postpartum, feeding, a baby in the throes of a sleep regression and having terrible allergies I feel like I'm constantly run down with cold symptoms. I'm starting to feel like the girl who cried COVID, but I figure better to be safe than sorry."
Others said they went for a test after picking up the common cold through their child's day care or because they suffered from allergies — two things that can create symptoms similar to coronavirus.
Meanwhile, Victorians living on the South Australian border are also required to be tested when crossing over, meaning some have clocked up more than a dozen so far.
Could 'pooled testing' help?
With daily case numbers now hovering around zero nationally, a senior researcher says it's time to adjust the approach to testing.
Ben Fahimnia is a Professor of Decision Sciences at the University of Sydney and has been modelling an approach known as "pooled testing".
It works like this:
- A group of people (a household, a street, a suburb) provide saliva swab samples
- These samples can be taken at home and deposited in dedicated testing bins
- They are then pooled together and put through a single test
- If the test result is negative, then everyone in that group is deemed negative
- If the test result is positive, each person in the group is then tested individually
Pooled testing has been used around the world to screen for things like chlamydia and gonorrhoea, and on donated blood to test for Hepatitis B and C.
"Australia has done a great job in controlling the virus obviously, but I think the problem is to maintain this status from now on," Professor Fahimnia said.
"We know this is not going to just go away all of a sudden. We have to be prepared for another surge toward the end of the year.
"And pool testing is definitely a cost-effective approach to do so by keeping track of the virus."
The advantage of pooled testing is it's quicker and cheaper to test a large number of people.
Professor Fahimnia said it's possible to test local communities and targeted populations for COVID-19 every week.
Yet there are concerns saliva swab testing isn't quite as accurate as the nasal and throat swabs and it could result in false negatives.
And while the US Centers for Disease Control does back the use of pool testing for COVID-19, it notes that the larger the pool of specimens, the higher the likelihood of false negatives.
Professor Fahimnia doesn't have a medical background. Instead, he has been crunching Australia's data on testing rates, locations and results to create a statistical model to see how pooled testing could be most effective.
His research looks at individual areas and determines whether the ideal number for testing is a group of, say, 10 people or 200 people, and what those results are likely to yield.
He said Australia was a prime candidate because case numbers were so low. It wouldn't work in the US, for example, because the virus is so widespread that almost no pooled test would come back negative.
"Pooled testing is a statistical thing, you have to find out how best you run your tests," Professor Fahimnia said.
"So the methods vary from one country to another and from a local population to another."
'I didn't need a test'
Professor Fahimnia says pooled testing has one other key benefit: it can catch asymptomatic people.
This could become increasingly important if case numbers remain low but the virus spreads silently among a complacent population.
It would also complement the existing sewage testing.
The response to the ABC's callout on testing shows there are those who don't feel they need to be tested due to their circumstances or adherence to the public health laws.
"No need to be tested when you live in a safe, educated regional community with no virus cases."
"Funnily enough I washed my hands, used a mask, stayed 1.5 metres from people, stayed within 5kms from home, and didn't need any tests. Go figure."
"No [tests], because I've stayed away from people and haven't had so much as a sniffle since January."
There is evidence a person can have the virus and spread it without developing symptoms. And cases in the regional Victorian city of Shepparton show how it can spread into previously unaffected areas.
To this end, Victorian Premier Daniel Andrews this week urged everyone to get tested at the slightest sign of symptoms, and not attach stigma to those who did still contract the disease.
"If you've got symptoms there's every chance you've got this virus," he said.
"We're very grateful so many people have come forward and got tested. It gives us great confidence that these numbers are a true reflection, an accurate picture, of how much virus is out there.
"And if you are positive, you will have played your part in stopping the spread of this virus."
https://news.google.com/__i/rss/rd/articles/CBMia2h0dHBzOi8vd3d3LmFiYy5uZXQuYXUvbmV3cy8yMDIwLTExLTAxL2Nvcm9uYXZpcnVzLXRlc3RzLWluLWF1c3RyYWxpYS1yaXNlLWNvdWxkLXBvb2wtdGVzdGluZy1oZWxwLzEyODA2NTI00gEnaHR0cHM6Ly9hbXAuYWJjLm5ldC5hdS9hcnRpY2xlLzEyODA2NTI0?oc=5
2020-10-31 19:16:00Z
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