Best Preventive or Screening Method to Adopt for Covid-19 Pandemic in Crowded Places

The blogger’s Note:

 

A short comment on the above subject is recently written by a friend who insisted not to be named (but my regular blog readers would surely know who he is) and “naughtily” suggested that I treat it as my own writing (as his Christmas and New Year present for me), which I vehemently declined. Anyway, here it goes:  

 

Crowd is back during Christmas 2020 !

I have always wondered taking body temperature for Covid-19 in a crowded place may be the fastest and easiest screening method. No doubt about this. But to me this is useless. 

 

A fever may not necessarily be the first response of the body to any infection as it takes time for the body to respond. 

 

A person may already be infected with the virus but his body may not show any fever.

 

He is a febrile or even entirely asymptomatic. 

 

If there is going to be a fever, this may take a few days. We call this the incubation period.

 

Furthermore, a fever does not necessarily mean Covid. It is just a body response to any infection or any kind of chemical pyrogen including drugs as side effects. 

 

It may also be due to an endocrinal disorder such as hyperthyroidism, or something physical such as coming in directly from the hot sun outside, or just after a steam bath before the thermo regulatory mechanisms of the body can adjust.

 

Hence I feel taking body temperature may not be a reliable screening indicator. 

 

Rapid screening tests such as ELISA may or may not be reliable either in specificity or sensitivity, if the viral load is initially not heavy or sensitive enough before the virus begins to start multiplying in the body.

 

The best alternative approach is the use of:

Reverse Transcription Polymerase Chain Reaction (RT-PCR). 

 

But this is a very expensive test that takes 5 to 6 hours to perform. 

 

Hence you can't use RT- PCR for screening in a crowded place like in the shopping mall or in a bus or railway station.

 

But in full bloom of a Covid infection, the detection of immunoglobulins produced by our own body is ultimately the best diagnostic test without any other invasive procedure. 

 

So the only way to stay safe is just to stay at home, whether for Christmas, New Year, any kind of festivals, or even our own birthday celebration.