- With the pandemic still ongoing, you almost can't know too much...
It is now more evident that the world will have to live with the coronavirus pandemic for the foreseeable future and Chicago, IL is no exception.
With this reality settling in, we all have a role to play in helping control the pandemic and mitigate it’s effect on our communities. From maintaining physical distance to wearing masks to washing our hands and embracing vaccination, we all play a significant role in reducing the chances of infection for ourselves and our loved ones.
One of the main components of preventing the spread of COVID-19 is accurate and timely testing. But the periodic surges in the demand and necessity of tests make achieving this pretty complicated. The surges often occur before mass holiday travels or when a new variant emerges, as we had with Delta and Omicron variants.
Still, government agencies and independent laboratories such as Northshore Clinical Labs in Chicago, IL, continue to do a remarkable job. Northshore Clinical Laboratory has hired more employees to help make testing turnaround times shorter. Also, partnerships between laboratories with companies, corporations, communities, and institutions continue to provide more efficiency.
COVID-19 Tests: Everything You Need to Know
The USA currently has two primary types of lab tests used to diagnose a COVID-19 infection. The SAR-CoV-2 tests help determine the presence of a disease in your body. In contrast, the antibodies tests help determine the kind of antibodies your body has after an infection or after vaccination.
SARS-CoV-2 tests are also known as viral tests and can only diagnose if you have an infection at that particular time. They help find out if your body has a viral infection. SARS-CoV-2 tests include Nucleic Acid Amplification Tests (NAATs) or Antigen tests. Antibody or serology tests have two particular functions: They will determine if you have had a past infection with COVID-19, or if the antibodies formed in your body after vaccination. After receiving the COVID-19 vaccination, your body develops antibodies the same way it would after infection.
Undoubtedly, testing, like vaccinations, plays a significant role in the prevention of the spread of Coronavirus.
The two testing types can be broken down as follows:
- Viral Tests
Viral tests use samples from your nose or mouth to determine the presence of the viral infection at the time of the test. It remains one of the most practical risk-reducing measures that one can take to prevent the spread and infection of others.
The two popular types of viral tests include laboratory tests and rapid point-of-care (POC) tests. Rapid tests are pretty fast and will give results in a few minutes. On the other hand, laboratory tests take a few days and include RT-PCR and other NAATs.
- Antibody or Serology Tests
These tests aim at detecting SARS-CoV-2 antibodies in your blood. Notably, antibodies are proteins often made by your immune system to help fight infection and provide protection against illness in the future.
While antibody tests will easily detect past infection, you cannot use them to detect the current existence of the virus. They still help you know whether your immune system has formed antibodies from the COVID-19 virus.
3 Reasons Why COVID Tests Are Key to Reducing Infection and How Northshore Continues to Expand Their Ability to Provide Quick and Accurate Test Turnaround Times
With countries worldwide looking for ways to aide their response to the pandemic, experts here in the U.S believe that testing and vaccination remain the top priorities. Of course, testing is vital, necessary, and achievable with the proper procedures in place and Northshore Clinical Labs is working hard to ensure they do exactly that.
- Northshore is Committed to Making Testing Quick, Easy, and Reliable
The new developments around COVID-19 vaccination and testing ensure that tests are fast, easy, and painless. This is not what you would experience earlier. Initially, the only test you would find involved getting samples from the back of your throat which were difficult to endure and not as effective.
However, new methods, supported by RADx-ATP and RADx Tech, ensure that you can access fast, comfortable, and highly accurate tests. A simple and painless mouth swab, a saliva sample, or sample swabs are currently enough to do the job and Northshore Clinical Labs has the technology, equipment, and knowledgeable staff to process these tests quickly and accurately.
When testing turnaround times are faster, you can begin treatment and isolation more quickly, preventing the spread of the virus and allowing you to attend to your health more urgently.
- Testing Saves Lives
Testing helps to identify those who need medical intervention before the virus has reached a life-threatening degree in those who may be high-risk or more vulnerable to the virus. In this case, both persons with symptoms such as sore throat, trouble breathing, loss of sense of taste or smell, fever, and those without symptoms, can test with ease.
- Northshore Clinical Labs is Committed to Community Efforts to Mitigate the Spread of Omicron and New Variants in the Future
Northshore Clinical Laboratories continues to invest in people, technology, and processes to be a best in class diagnostic laboratory. This means hiring more staff, investing in the highest quality testing supplies, and continuing to develop partnerships with community businesses and programs in Chicago and the surrounding area. Their hope is that everyone can benefit from the efforts and the community commitment of Northshore Clinical Labs and their services through the duration of the pandemic.