This morning, at a press conference on Shanghai’s epidemic prevention and control work, Wu Qing, member of the Standing Committee of the Municipal Party Committee and executive vice mayor, briefed on the recent nucleic acid screening in Shanghai.
Photo source: Weibo@China News Weekly
Timely and extensive nucleic acid testing is one of the anti-epidemic measures, and it has always been a topic of concern. What is the nucleic acid situation in Shanghai? What should we pay attention to in the face of extensive nucleic acid testing? Today’s hot discussion today, let’s talk about this topic.
Shanghai Future Nucleic Acid Testing Arrangements
Nucleic acid screening is a key measure to implement “early detection, early reporting, early isolation, and early treatment”. It is necessary to quickly detect virus-infected persons through testing, so as to isolate them and effectively cut off transmission ways to prevent the spread of the epidemic.
With the support of sister provinces and cities, Shanghai can invest 25,000 sampling medical staff every day, with a maximum daily testing capacity of nearly 5 million tubes, and can also send samples to brother cities to increase testing capabilities. Since April 15, Shanghai has completed more than 37 million nucleic acid screenings.
Starting today, the city will carry out nucleic acid screening in the control area for 3 consecutive days (19-21 days), and nucleic acid testing will be conducted once a day. Nucleic acid screening will be carried out in the control area at the same time on the 20th.
At the same time, on the basis of scientific flow adjustment and strict control measures, the three areas of containment, control and prevention have different requirements. With antigen detection as an auxiliary method, a combined screening method of “antigen + nucleic acid” is adopted. It also provides support for early detection of positive infections, blocking virus transmission and timely treatment.
Inconvenience caused by adjustment of early nucleic acid screening arrangements
Vice Mayor Wu Qing also said: In the early stage, due to the complexity of the epidemic situation, the adjustment of nucleic acid screening arrangements caused inconvenience to everyone. Continuously improve the work and inform the screening plan in advance to further improve the quality and efficiency of screening.
In the future, the analysis and judgment of the results of each round will be strengthened, the problems and shortcomings found in the screening implementation process will be summarized in a timely manner, and data support will be provided for the formulation of the next round of epidemic prevention and control strategies. .
Subsequent optimization of nucleic acid screening scheduling
In terms of sampling power, each district is required to conduct grid screening to find out the actual population in the screening area, and reasonably allocate sampling medical staff.
As for the on-site organization, it is required that every street, town, and community set up sampling points reasonably, and do a good job in organizing and mobilizing the residents. “Don’t call, don’t move, call again”, “Go to the door when you need to go, go downstairs when you need to go downstairs”, organize by door opening, time period, and batches.
At the same time, guide residents to strictly abide by the “2-meter line, wear a mask, and do not communicate” to avoid cross-infection.
The above is the main introduction of nucleic acid screening in Shanghai at the press conference.
Is it safe to conduct mass nucleic acid testing in a centralized manner?
In the future, Shanghai will conduct multiple rounds of centralized nucleic acid testing, and there may be nationwide testing outside Shanghai. Today, when the new coronavirus is becoming more and more cunning and contagious, will this centralized nucleic acid test bring the risk of virus transmission? Am I in danger if my neighbor is positive?
If nucleic acid testing is properly deployed and regulations are strictly enforced, the risk of spreading the virus is minimal.
COVID-19 is airborne, which means it has the potential to infect another person over long distances. But this is not the main mode of transmission and has limited impact on the epidemic. Known airborne transmission occurs mainly in confined spaces.
If the centralized nucleic acid test can be organized downstairs in batches by door and hole, keep a sufficient distance when queuing outside, wear a mask and do not communicate, in fact, sufficient isolation protection has been established, and then The chance of long-distance airborne transmission is very small.
And if the follow-up arrangement is followed, the rational use of antigen self-testing as an alternative to nucleic acid testing and reducing the number of nucleic acid concentrations will also increase our safety factor.
In order to return to normal life as soon as possible, it is necessary to find infected people through nucleic acid testing. Centralized nucleic acid testing is also necessary, and scientific and reasonable arrangements should be made to minimize the possibility of virus transmission.
What can I do to make myself safer?
Scientific process design and strict implementation of the process are the prerequisites for the safety of centralized nucleic acid testing. But there are always unexpected situations, and some things can also be noticed.
First of all, try to follow the arrangement and let you go downstairs whenever you want. This allows the detection to be done most efficiently. Reduce the fatigue of inspectors caused by time delays and reduce operational errors caused by fatigue. Second, we can try our best to avoid contact with potentially infected persons in relatively dangerous places such as elevators and stairs.
Secondly, N95 masks can be worn when conditions permit. If there is an accident in the process, walking with the infected person on the stairs, or keeping the distance outside is not enough, the protection of N95 masks is better than that of ordinary surgical masks. A CDC survey in California shows that N9s are always worn in public places5 The risk of infection with a mask is 83% lower than without a mask.
Image source: CDC
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