Lyon County has tested over 3,700 residents for coronavirus, but has the county done enough testing?
Public Health Emergency Preparedness Director Jennifer Millbern says Lyon County has one of the higher testing rates in the state, with over 10 percent of the county’s population of around 34,000 people tested since March. However…
Testing concerns on a variety of questions have been commonplace since the pandemic began in March. One of those questions is the overall testing strategy after reports employers have told their supervisors have come in contact with COVID-19 patients, received direction to get tested at a health facility but then not get tested. Millbern says this is part of the state’s overall testing strategy.
Millbern says diagnostic tests used in Lyon County and elsewhere in Kansas look for viral RNA — and in an infection’s early stages, there may not be enough of that RNA to confirm a positive result. Most people, she says, have their “highest viral load” right before symptoms develop or when they are symptomatic.
As part of KVOE’s Morning Show earlier this week, Millbern discussed recent reports of “empty” or false positive tests, saying those are largely due to antibody tests — which are improving but are still susceptible to incorrect results. More perspective is coming on KVOE’s Friday Newsmaker segment with Newman Regional Health Infection Preventionist Ester Knobloch.
