Posted on Dec 24, 2020
The coronavirus has reached every continent after positive cases in Antarctica
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Antarctica is no longer the only continent free of the pandemic.
Thirty-six people stationed at the Gen. Bernardo O'Higgins Riquelme Antarctic base had tested positive for the virus, Chilean officials said this week. The permanent research station is located on tip of the continent south of Chile.
Of those infected, 26 are members of the Chilean army and 10 are civilian maintenance personnel, authorities said in a statement to the Spanish-language television channel 24 Horas. The officials added that contact tracing was underway and those who tested positive were in isolation.
Thirty-six people stationed at the Gen. Bernardo O'Higgins Riquelme Antarctic base had tested positive for the virus, Chilean officials said this week. The permanent research station is located on tip of the continent south of Chile.
Of those infected, 26 are members of the Chilean army and 10 are civilian maintenance personnel, authorities said in a statement to the Spanish-language television channel 24 Horas. The officials added that contact tracing was underway and those who tested positive were in isolation.
The coronavirus has reached every continent after positive cases in Antarctica
Posted from opb.org
Antarctica
Medical
Health
Posted >1 y ago
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Sgt Neil Foster
Actually the latest test is quick, accurate and doesn't require a nasal swab. The problem is, IT'S NIT BEING USED ENOUGH!
The medical community (doctors, PAs and RNs) reject the concept of testing on a regular basis. Almost every time I mention this to a medical professional, they say "You can test Negative, and become infected 2 seconds later... To that I say: NO SHIT. You have a disease that is contagious for several WEEKS without symptoms.
The concept behind regularly testing is not to eliminate 100% of the transmission, it is to REDUCE the likelihood of a person an asymptomatic carrier from unknowingly spreading the disease for weeks. With a disease that is highly contagious for weeks without symptoms, the idea of screening for symptoms, and not testing is beyond idiotic. It is literally closing the barn door after the cows and horses escaped.
Instead of only screening for symptoms, they need to TEST! They should ask "Have you been tested for COVID-19 in the past two weeks?" If the answer is no, a test should at least be offered
When I attempt to explain this concept to non-receptive medical professionals, I tell them that scheduled testing for a disease during a pandemic should be treated like scheduled maintenance on an airplane:
Nice as it would be, it is impossible to eliminate 100% of new infections, just as scheduled maintenance is not going to prevent 100% of accidents caused by catastrophic failures on a plane. However, by identifying problems BEFORE they fail REDUCES the likelihood of it catastrophically failing during operation and causing an accident.
If we test every two weeks, and you are consistently testing negative, and one week test positive, it makes finding the causer and contact tracing much less complicated... because the farthest they've got to go back is to your last negative test (or last two tests).. whereas if you've never been tested and you're having symptoms, you've been spreading the virus for weeks. Most importantly, you can quarantine to avoid spreading the virus.
Once the total number of positives are below 8% we can say we've got it under control.
BTW, Amazon has set up in-house labs, creating a system that will be able to test 500,000 per month. They test their employees every 2 weeks
The medical community (doctors, PAs and RNs) reject the concept of testing on a regular basis. Almost every time I mention this to a medical professional, they say "You can test Negative, and become infected 2 seconds later... To that I say: NO SHIT. You have a disease that is contagious for several WEEKS without symptoms.
The concept behind regularly testing is not to eliminate 100% of the transmission, it is to REDUCE the likelihood of a person an asymptomatic carrier from unknowingly spreading the disease for weeks. With a disease that is highly contagious for weeks without symptoms, the idea of screening for symptoms, and not testing is beyond idiotic. It is literally closing the barn door after the cows and horses escaped.
Instead of only screening for symptoms, they need to TEST! They should ask "Have you been tested for COVID-19 in the past two weeks?" If the answer is no, a test should at least be offered
When I attempt to explain this concept to non-receptive medical professionals, I tell them that scheduled testing for a disease during a pandemic should be treated like scheduled maintenance on an airplane:
Nice as it would be, it is impossible to eliminate 100% of new infections, just as scheduled maintenance is not going to prevent 100% of accidents caused by catastrophic failures on a plane. However, by identifying problems BEFORE they fail REDUCES the likelihood of it catastrophically failing during operation and causing an accident.
If we test every two weeks, and you are consistently testing negative, and one week test positive, it makes finding the causer and contact tracing much less complicated... because the farthest they've got to go back is to your last negative test (or last two tests).. whereas if you've never been tested and you're having symptoms, you've been spreading the virus for weeks. Most importantly, you can quarantine to avoid spreading the virus.
Once the total number of positives are below 8% we can say we've got it under control.
BTW, Amazon has set up in-house labs, creating a system that will be able to test 500,000 per month. They test their employees every 2 weeks
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