CHENNAI: As COVID-19 testing is increasing consistently in Chennai over the past few weeks, issues of backlogs in test results and the gap between the onset of symptoms and the results, may pose new challenges.
On Monday, 62-year-old Thilagavathi got tested for the virus after she developed a fever. Her family was informed that she was positive on Wednesday evening. By then she had died of breathlessness at her residence.
“We had already guessed that she would have been positive when she died as she showed all possible symptoms. She had a fever but the breathlessness occurred suddenly, we were not expecting it,” said her son who did not want to be named. He runs a cycle repair shop in Virugambakkam.
Similarly, 50-year-old Sunil (name changed) was tested on June 14, and his results came back positive at around 4 pm on June 17, three days later. By then, his symptoms had worsened. He was rejected treatment by private hospitals who asked him to wait until his results were back. He was eventually admitted to a government hospital after his results came back, with a high fever and 25% lung infection.
In yet another case, a 29-year-old resident of Ambattur got tested for COVID-19 on June 14. Though feverish, he had to wait until the morning of June 18th to receive a message saying that he was negative. While it may not have done damage in the case of an otherwise healthy male, four days may prove costly in case of others who may need immediate treatment as several private hospitals refuse to treat patients until their test results have arrived.
A Chennai Corporation official said that there have been backlogs in the last few days due to overload in labs. “But we are following up with those that show symptoms during our survey to check if they have other difficulties,” the official said.
Former director of public health P Kulandaisamy said that lab testing should not be linked with treatment. “When we push for higher testing, we should also have our capability (infrastructural) in mind. Also, in many cases they are misguided- people tell them that it's okay if they have other symptoms and come to the hospital when they have breathlessness. But that might be too late, breathlessness is the beginning of the end,” he said.
“It should be enough for people to have these symptoms to be admitted- new onset of severe cough, non-specific (where the patient or his/her caregiver is not able to clearly explain the nature symptoms but feel he/she should be admitted) and when oxygen levels are low,” he added.
A senior official in the health department told TNIE that the load on government labs is much more than that of private labs because of the difference in capabilities. “So there are around 107 labs in Tamil Nadu and about 55,000-60,000 samples are coming in. So you may assume that the load on private and government labs is split in half. It’s not the case. Data clearly shows that the load on government labs is 75-78%,” said a senior health department official.
“Private labs don’t have the capacity and they don’t run three shifts like we do,” he added.
When contacted, a senior official of the city corporation said that in cases of breathlessness, patients are monitored closely to bring down mortality. “We will shift them to hospitals even during the surveillance stage. The labs are working overtime now like never before,” he said.
"Those with breathing issues will be shifted to suspected COVID ward"
Those with breathing problems during the check up will be shifted to the suspected COVID ward in hospitals to help further reduce mortality, Corporation Commissioner G Prakash told reporters on Thursday. However the daily number of deaths in the city have come down to about 20 from 30 or 40 earlier, he said.
Talking about North Chennai, he said it was an example of the activities that may be carried out to control the spread. “Earlier, the positivity in North Chennai areas was 50-60%, now it's only 5-6% in Tondiarpet and 8-9% in Royapuram,” he said.
Now intensive containment activities will be carried out in Anna Nagar, Teynampet and Kodambakkam zones, he said. “We will not be satisfied with the current positivity rate in the city, we are working to bring it down further,” he said.