Members of the N.J. Air National Guard work at Holmdel testing site 3/23. National Guard photo by Master Sgt. Matt Hecht. (via NJ.com)
Paul Goldfinger, MD Blogfinger.net
On April 22, the Monmouth County Prosecutor announced that COVID-19 testing in New Jersey could be done on those without symptoms. This would be important to identify infected individuals who feel fine but are still infectious. It would be helpful information as we strive to get people back to work or other activities.
Of course, a negative test one day could turn positive soon thereafter if the person gets infected subsequently. And a negative test could be a false negative, complicating the situation.
Later in the day on the 22nd, the Governor announced that a waiver from the U.S. Dept of Health and Human Services would be required to go ahead to testing asymptomatic people at state testing sites.
Evidently there have been some non-state testing sites such as urgent care facilities that would do testing on asymptomatic people. The state site in question is at the PNC Bank Arts Center in Holmdel where FEMA is running the show.
From the APP: “Gov. Murphy said the state is conducting a ‘top to bottom’ review of its testing infrastructure, with the goal of doubling the number of tests available once the statewide shutdown ends. Officials have said testing is critical for authorities to identify and contain new outbreaks once restrictions are lifted.”
From Newsweek: “The Roadmap to Pandemic Resilience” report published on Monday by Harvard’s Center for Ethics suggests a combination of widespread testing to identify cases, contact-tracing to find those who may be infected, and measures to isolate the sick in order to re-open the economy while stopping the coronavirus spreading. This would enable the country to regain some sense of normalcy by August, they indicated.”
But testing done in satellite centers won’t be able to keep up with the numbers needed. LabCorps has just gotten approval for an at-home testing kit, but it won’t be available for awhile, and it will cost $119.00. First it will be available only to healthcare personnel.
And Rutgers has a testing settup that can do 10,000 tests per day. Just approved.
April 23 update: NJ deaths are now 5,368. Total cases are 99,989. The 100,000 mark will be reached tomorrow. There were 3500 new positive tests in the last day.