Should you get a covid test right now?

I get asked this question quite a lot and I invariably say: unless you have had a proven Covid exposure or you are sick the answer is No. Here’s why:

Scenario One.

Let’s say you could get every single member of a church congregation to get a Covid test at exactly the same time you could then quarantine the positives and all the other members could hug and kiss and wouldn’t have to wear masks. 2 issues with this scenario: They would all have to stay in a bubble like the NBA players and two, they could not associate with anyone outside of the bubble. Not even family members and housemates who didn’t get tested on the same day as everyone in the church.

Hopefully you can start to see why it’s a complicated issue and logistically difficult.

If you get randomly tested today it tells you nothing about last month and nothing about what may happen next week. So until we have access to daily home tests for everyone random tests are not helpful.

Scenario Two: another option would be to quarantine every single person in the country for two weeks and then we would all be free. Why not? Well, for one thing essential workers still need to do their essential work. You get the picture I am sure, its not so easy to shut down a country. Babies will still be born!

Theoretically as a country we could use the mightiest military in the world to coordinate testing of 90% of the people on one day and manage them accordingly.

This apparently is too heavy handed for the US. I should point out that heavy handed tactics did work in China.

Anyway, I digress. Random tests in terms of time and location are not helpful. Your best bet: don’t get Covid-19 in the first place.

Remember to get your flu shot. If you get a fever or are sick from anything else you will still need to quarantine for 10 to 14 days while you ARE being tested for Covid! Quest lab has a 7 to 10 business day turn around at the moment.

For those who are interested here is my latest video: (You can subscribe for more tales from the trenches)

https://youtu.be/4FGGOF0MBGg

And here is a prior video about Kids and Covid-19 as a reminder (from April!).

https://youtu.be/DRGGwygPHnA