The Importance of Weekly Tests

Expert opinions indicate that COVID is here to stay. There is no cure. Vaccines are 2+ years away. Therefore, widespread screening, testing and contact tracing will be the biggest factors in safely returning employees to work.

If you don’t have a COVID outbreak in your workplace right now, you have containment within your workplace, however, the moment one person gets infected you have a problem.

Let’s take a look at the cycle of the virus to better understand how weekly testing can help prevent the spread of infection. Included is a graph showing the time it takes for each stage of the virus to happen.

Here at Kyla, we are utilizing molecular antigen testing to obtain results. This can be done in multiple ways, from nose swabs to throat swabs to sputum tests.

While we acknowledge that there is no perfect testing regimen because the virus behaves differently in different people; here at Kyla we aim to catch the highest percentage of infected people as early as possible to avoid an outbreak. Testing too early can mean that not enough of the virus has built up within the body and could produce a false negative. Testing too late would mean that an individual is increasingly contagious and has already exposed others to greater risk. By using weekly testing, we can identify the presence of the virus before symptoms appear and decrease the risk of false negatives.

The Kyla solution is a combination of thorough safety protocols, daily symptom checks, weekly COVID tests, contact tracing post-infection, and the suggested requirement for a clean bill of health prior to the return to work.

– Vladimir Skorohod, MD

Infection Timelapse

1. The Infection stage can happen anytime, anywhere.

2. On day 3 you may begin to be contagious and are contagious until cured.

3. For most people symptoms start around day 5 or 6. Once you develop symptoms, you become more contagious.

4. It is important to note that you are contagious before symptoms appear and up to 50% of people do not develop symptoms at all while still being contagious.

This is why symptom checks are not enough and weekly testing is required.

DISCLOSURE: This info will be updated as more information about the COVID-19 virus becomes available.