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COVID-19: Demand for tests and calls grow in Guadalajara
After the last December holidays, the University of Guadalajara (UdeG) registered an increase in the demand for COVID-19 diagnostic tests and in the calls it receives from people seeking guidance or making an appointment to take a screening test of the virus.
Jesús Mora, in charge of call center and the sampling module of the University Center for Health Sciences (CUCS), said that While last month between 50 and 80 telephone connections were registered per day, after the Christmas and New Year celebrations, up to 300 were reached every 24 hours.
In the case of the tests, Mora explained that in the holiday season they did 360 daily. However, he assured that as of January 10 they will carry out 1,250 in 15 modules of the Guadalajara Metropolitan Area and the rest of the State.
"Right now we are scheduling for the next day or two, depending on the type of test they need. Antigen results are given in 15 minutes; (people) wait in the module for what is delivered to them. And in the PCR test, from 24 to 48 hours, "said the doctor.
This media yesterday visited the CUCS test module and observed that in 30 minutes, from 09:30 to 10:00 hours, 50 cars entered whose drivers would take an exam. In that time, seven more people entered on foot.
Carlos Alonso Reynoso, researcher and epidemiologist at UdeG, highlighted that the ability to detect cases of the variant omicron in the State it is reduced, since most of the tests that are done are for antigen, which does not allow the virus to be sequenced to determine the strain.
The tests that apply
The doctor Jesús Mora explained that in the detection modules of the UdeG PCR and antigen tests are applied according to the patient's symptoms.
"The date of contact is very important because it tells us about the incubation time of the virus, which is three to five days. If the patient has three to five days with symptoms, this tells us of a high viral load and that the antigen test is reliable for these high viral loads, on the other hand, if he has a contact of three to five days, but does not have symptoms , it may be that you have a low viral load, and that there the most appropriate is a CRP so that the diagnosis is more reliable, "he explained.
If the person has not had symptoms or contact with a positive, the application of the test is ruled out, however, if he has not had positive contact but has symptoms, he is scheduled, Mora added.
"If you have symptoms is to call immediately to be tested as soon as possible."
Reference-www.informador.mx