On-island testing ‘in two or three weeks’
ON-ISLAND testing for the Covid-19 virus could be established within two or three weeks, according to the Director of Public Health.
Dr Nicola Brink explained the new timeline, down from nearly seven weeks, depended on the procurement of reagents, although a key piece of machinery had been built and was ready to ship to the island.
On-island testing is a crucial step to combating the spread of Covid-19, said Dr Brink, because the current solution of outsourcing tests to the UK was not providing enough information for Public Health to make fully-informed decisions.
A growing backlog of tests has left patients waiting three days or more for results and, as a consequence, Dr Brink said she could no longer be sure that there was no transmission of the virus within the community.
‘From the onset we said that we’d have a cautious and evidenced-based approach,’ she said
‘We’ve tried to underpin every decision we’ve made with evidence and also to explain it to all of you because all of you are part of this journey.’
‘Over the past 24-48 hours I’ve become increasingly concerned that I no longer have a sound evidence base on which to base the decision-making.’
Waiting three or four days also made contact tracing, another key measure used to contain the virus, far more difficult to enact.
This lack of evidence was taken into account as part of the decision to close schools, which should decrease risk until testing on island has been set up.
The island is therefore in a ‘pause and assess’ phase, said Dr Brink.
Once the island has its own testing capabilities, Dr Brink hopes tests results could arrive the day samples are taken, allowing for a rapid isolation response and also increasing the chances to successfully track and isolate anyone who might have been in contact with the infected person.
Schools could then reopen if there is still no evidence of community seeding once testing improves, said Deputy Heidi Soulsby, the president of Health & Social Care.
‘I think it’s important to add the testing results might change what we do. If the results come back and say there is no community seeding we can perhaps relax the measures we are putting in place now.
‘We’re doing this now because we haven’t got the evidence at the moment but as soon as we have we can then make the decisions to make things more normal.’
Deputy Soulsby also praised the efforts of staff to prepare for testing.
‘The staff behind the scenes have been really busting a gut here to get that equipment online, finding ways we can do training quickly, get all the kit, get the path lab set-up expeditiously.’
Gavin St Pier echoed her sentiment and said that on-island testing had been weeks in the making.
