This week we review the various options available to mitigate the risk of transmitting the virus to your family and friends. The good news is there are lots of testing options available. The bad news is that there are few free options placing some of these choices out of reach for some people.
We discuss Antigen and PCR testing including some options for rapid PCR testing and review who and why you might need to test even if you have been vaccinated.
Raw Transcript
Nick van Terheyden
Hi, this is Dr. Nick, I’m the incrementalist here with incremental insights for better business better health.
Fred Goldstein
And I’m Fred Goldstein, with Accountable Health here working with employer groups, payers and others on population health improvement programs. So Nick, we got the holidays coming up, it’s supposed to be a really fun time get together with a lot of people. We have omachron, obviously starting to go around. But there are certain things that people can do to try and make their events safer. And one of those is testing. And I know you’ve been looking a lot into this, there’s some really cool stuff going on there. So what’s happening?
Nick van Terheyden
Yeah, I think the most astounding thing to me was to discover the list of available tests. And we’ll link to it it’s it’s down here in the the bottom of this particular video, you can get to it. But there’s an extraordinarily large number. And I don’t know that this encompasses it. But when I saved it to a PDF, it was 79 pages long. So that’s a lot of tests that are available. Now. In that post, you’ll find that, you know, there’s details of EUA certification. So that’s the certification to give them the emergency use or the right authorization, there are some that I think are fairly well known, I know you’re going to talk a little bit about that. We’ve both use those from a traveling standpoint. In that particular instance, that’s an antigen test, which is relatively easy. It’s also importantly, relatively low cost. And you know, I don’t want to diminish, I think the last I heard it was around $14 was the lowest that they were being seen in Walmart, that’s still a lot of money for people. And you know, from a testing standpoint, but the other thing that I think as extraordinary as there is actually a rapid PCR test, which is the gold standard, it’s the most sensitive, you know, it’s the one that’s actually mandated in some instances for entry into countries, reentry, actually not reentry into the US there accepting the binax antigen testing. So, when you think about that from the holidays, and you know, the other thing that comes along with holidays, and I’m going to mess up, but there’s a bunch of bowls, and we’re not talking bowls, as in salad bowls. But this is sports activities. So everybody’s getting together. There’s a lot of people traveling around, going to these. So you’ve got lots of mixing. And you know, the smart way of dealing with this even vaccinated at this point is to understand if you have any infection, because you had could have a breakthrough for infection, and it could be asymptomatic, so you might not even know. So before you mix in. So before you add the dressing to the salad bowl, test the dressing to make sure that it doesn’t have any virus, I think, smart thing to do. And the same with relatives, especially if you’ve got relatives that are at higher risk. Even if you’ve been vaccinated and boosted and all of those things. You want to be smart about this, because you do not want to be transmitting this virus, if you are unknowingly carrying it and you actually got infected.
Fred Goldstein
Yeah, so it’s fascinating. Now this PCR test you’re talking about, that’s something that’s going to potentially be available for home use.
Nick van Terheyden
Yeah, I’m not sure I struggled a little bit to get to the detail. So it was one of these gated, you know, Oh, you want more information. You know, please take all of my personal information so that you can spam me into oblivion, which obviously wasn’t going to happen. In my particular case, I’m just saying. But it’s a cartridge. So the cartridge has a set of technology that’s built into it. And that cartridge has to get inserted into a machine. So I suspect that this is not going to be home base because you would need the machine that’s going to be more expensive. Cartridges might be slightly lower cost, you’re probably going to have to go to some organization some place for that. But the good news is that makes for a rapid available test. And hopefully because it’s in cartridge format, and it’s machine based and so forth, means that it can bring the cost down for these rapid tests. So, you know, good news, but obviously not quite as effective as the or as accessible as the antigen test which you can ship to home. You’ve got some of those, Fred, what’s been your experience?
Fred Goldstein
Yeah, so I’ve actually got him you know, and we’ve used you talked about by next now another others out there?
Nick van Terheyden
Should I blow that out? Because we’re not advertising?
Fred Goldstein
That’s exactly right. It’s really, there are a number of these have actually used quite ELLs also, if the quidel test. And you know, we’ve used the binax. Now we’re turning. But the problem still is, I think I actually paid 25 bucks for these at at one of the places that you can buy them, and there seemed to be more available. And I know that the government’s working on a way to provision these, so they’re going to be free, at least for those who, for seniors, it looks like they’re gonna distribute them out through centers, and you go there and pick up the tests. But for those who have insurance, I think they’re going to try to make the insurers pay for it, you buy it and then have to file a claim, which obviously is not the easiest thing to do, can be a real pain. It’s just not quite the right approach yet. And particularly given the fact that people in rural communities are those in lower socio economic groups, they can’t afford to go buy a group of these things to test 10 people coming over to their place. And that’s where we really got to focus, I think we could do a lot more in terms of providing these for free. I know in talking to my son, who happens to be in Germany now that if my other son goes to visit, he said, we can get tests anywhere you can find them, they’re easy to get done. And that’s what we need here in the United States. So hopefully, we’ll move to that because this is critically important during this holiday season.
Nick van Terheyden
Yeah, I think I shout out to Michael Mina, who, you know, has posted a lot around this. And I think he captured a clip from the White House Press Secretary saying, Well, do you want us to provide free testing for everybody? And his answer? And I guess ours is to, yes, we need it widely available, it should just be available in the stores, you go pick it up, it should be shipped to you, it should just be everywhere. And free, essentially, because if you make it free and accessible, people will start to do it. Cost is an inhibitor, particularly for the most disenfranchised.
Fred Goldstein
Well, and also think about this way. And I believe the state of Colorado is actually providing a number limited number of free test kits to everybody. And so it can be done. And when you think about the potential to offset healthcare costs, it’s inexpensive, right? That’s what we need to be looking at as a country. So once again, another fantastic week, Nick, we’re approaching the holidays. Still a few more weeks to go, but we wish everyone a great time. And if you need any more information, please reach out to Campbell health llc.com
Nick van Terheyden
Yes, Happy Holidays everybody. This is Dr. Nick on the incrementalist here with incremental insights for better business better health.
