Thousands Of Tests, Masks Distributed As Statewide Positivity Rate Hits 21.5%

Can the NHI (or anyone really) clarify what makes the denominator in these stats? Is the 21% positivity rate out of only people who were tested? Or the entire CT population.

If the former it would be great to know who is allowed to test now. I was unable to find at home or schedule testing since my family is all asymptomatic. We just wanted to confirm we're negative after visiting with family for the holidays. Throughout the summer, when there was a significantly lower positivity rate, testing was widely available throughout the city.

I also don't understand why it doesn't get headlines here, or nationally, that 75-90% of the hospitalized COVID patients are the knuckleheads who refuse to get vaccinated. Why isn't that the headline every single day? Why is it just 1 sentence 2/3rd of the way down in a COVID article (per Mr. Breen's 12/31 article)?

Lots of good theater here. Why are the alders involved in this? They should be legislating. I know for a fact that the city has cut promised tests to the organizations lucky enough to receive some of these tests and have not even reached out to all of the non profits dealing with our most vulnerable citizens. Good thing the alders were on hand to give these out instead of getting ready for the meeting tonight. You asked to lead this city through the legislature. Lead by/spend your time passing ordinances and policy and not by handing out a handful of tests in hopes of getting more votes.

"She said she planned on taking her 40 boxes of testing kits — which each held six kits each, and two tests per kit — to local homeless services nonprofits like New Reach, Christian Community Action, Youth Continuum, and Marrakech."

This is a comically low number of tests that should be easily used before Wednesday this week by these important services. What is the plan for next week? How are you going to ensure that the tests get out to folks and are not hoarded. Is there a decision making matrix to standardize who should receive these tests from the alders or are they just giving them out?

We should be using every single test we the city has right now to get through this spike.
They are giving out 1/6 of the tests that they acquired. The spike is now! Are you going to be dribbling them out over several weeks and create even more scarcity than is necessary. We should be testing heavily now and instead we are getting every high level official to personally drive 10s of tests across the city that most citizens will not get.

CatDude: The 21% is the percentage of positive PCR tests. No one tracks at home tests, although if someone is really sick they may wind up at the hospital and get a PCR after a positive antigen (at-home) test.

CatDude. I want to know why can't the knuckleheads be forced to vaccinate. They are endangering everyone else. This will certainly go down as one of the dumbest periods in history. We are living the movie Idiocracy.

I was tested at Long Wharf last Wed. and promised results in 24-48 hours. The had one card of instructions that I had to photograph! They also said I could watch the video on my phone. Well the video wouldn't play and what if I didn't have a phone?? Anyhow, I am still waiting for the results.

I know everyone is trying their best (we vaxxers) but we could at least be on the same page.

So we think handing out home test kits is a good idea? The home test kits are prone to false negatives and will give the impression that you have a cold rather than Covid. It took my son three home tests to register positive over the course of a week in the meantime potentially exposing the rest of the family while we thought it was just a cold. You should wait 5 days before testing and assume it's Covid. Home tests won't be reported to the State so our positive numbers will go down just in time for the elections which is probably the real reason we're distributing these tests in the first place. Another drawback is we won't be testing for variants as we do now on random samples because the numbers won't be there. By the time the hospitals start seeing the emergence of a new variant it will be well established in the population.

Statistically speaking, the Omicron variant will infect or negatively impact everyone (at first). The positive outlook (based on data from earlier global outbreaks) is that it will quickly overtake the Delta variant becoming the dominant viral strain. Hopefully, that will be the end of the pandemic as it shifts to an uncertain future. We can't be sure about the viral payload until more data is gathered but the smart move is to get vaccinated so that the impact of the disease (to you personally) is minimized. That is what most vaccines are designed to do - reduce the impact WHEN you get infected NOT stop infection i.e influenza or the common cold.

Our public officials must have a flexible but REALISTIC policy and if you pay attention to what the CDC is doing then you can see their opinion has greatly changed in the last 15 days. We see evidence of this going from a quarantine period of 14 days to 5 days. The reason for this is the statistical outcome and projected relevance of Omicron transmission. The federal government fully appreciates it and has modeled the viral growth (that is now exponential) and knows that it will ultimately impact 100% of the population. We use hundreds of computer simulations that model hypothetical situations impacting our country (from invasions, pandemics, weather events, famines, etc) and that data is most likely being used now to help set federal policy - let's hope the models are correct!

It would be reckless and far more dangerous compared to the mortality rate for Omicron (so far) for all services to fundamentally stop working. If that happened it would create a higher probability for widespread chaos that will have a far higher mortality rate. We may see mandates at a federal level that will ask (then tell) essential workers to keep working regardless of the transmission rate of Omicron. I feel local \ state policymakers must consider far more complex modeling and guidance from the federal government in their upcoming decisions.

Bohica please do not sow misinformation. Home tests are not a monolith. The most common ones are antigen and pcr. The city has been handing out antigen tests and that kind is most accurate when there is a high viral load. The test is not meant to tell you that someone has or does not have COVID it is meant to provide a way to see if someone is shedding a high viral load and therefore is extremely contagious.

The reason we should not be holding tests back like we are now is that it is important to have as much information as possible. It is not one and then done with these tests. If you get sick, but have been reasonably safe then an at home test will tell you that right now that you are or are not shedding large amounts of the virus. Very helpful information.

It seems like you all did the right thing by administering multiple tests and gauging the amount of risks he would be to others. These are not false negatives as you say because your son was not shedding a large amount of virus at the time of the test. We need to understand the science behind this and make smart decisions about how to use the tests we have available.

Great article about this whole thing.
https://academic.oup.com/jid/article/224/6/976/6311835

The scientists are learning much more about omicron versus delta and how infectious it is and for what length of time you are infectious, etc. The rapid at home tests are more likely to pick up delta than omicron, the length of time you are most likely to be infectious is shorter than they originally thought, the PCR tests will flag as positive when the rapid at home kits will not always flag as positive on the same person based on their vital load at the time of testing. When in doubt schedule a PCR, a rapid at home test will help catch you at your most infectious.
The state needs to have more PCR testing sites statewide, more available appointments, more testing materials, and more lab technicians so that the tests can be scheduled and shorter results turn around time in a timely fashion to prevent virus spread, get people back to work and school safely.
They also need to make it easier to get vaccines and boosters everywhere instead of making people travel halfway across the state to get an appointment for a vaccine in a reasonable time frame. It sounds like with the vaccines we have right now, that we will have to get boosters every 5 months to keep our immunity levels up to the levels we need to protect us for hospitalizations, severe illness or death. We either need to improve the vaccines so they will last a year like flu vaccines do, or they need to make sure every pharmacy, grocery store, superstore, and doctor’s office can give you a booster vaccine whenever you are due for one, within your community.

justchecking I'm not spreading misinformation just the facts. We are not trying to determine viral loads by these tests and then adjust your exposure to others. The quick tests work best when viremia is at it's highest, and you are not required to report the results of your home test on the PD-23 form as required by law for laboratories and others so we will not know the true extent of this pandemic. A certain percentage of samples are sent to the State to be tested for variants with more home tests there will be less testing and more of a chance that a dangerous variant will go unnoticed. One more obvious fact, unless we concentrate more on vaccinating underdeveloped countries variants will continue to emerge.

Not trying to go full on comment section argument, but the antigen tests are used for just exactly what you explained. They are for determining viral load and limiting exposure. It is just one tool in the toolbox. PCR tests are great and symptomatic folks should go get one right now. Asymptomatic folks who are worried about an exposure or symptoms that are presenting should be using the antigen tests. Misinformation about how to use them have caused panic and huge lines at PCR testing sites and are wasting resources that could be better used. The antigen tests let us know with reasonable confidence how much viral load a person might have at that exact moment. For example if they have enough viral load to trigger the test then you will be pretty infectious for the next 36-48 hours. If you test negative then it is safe to go to school, work, etc... This buys you time to get a PCR test or get another antigen test to take in 12 hours.

By saying that they do not work or we are not trying to figure out viral loads and adjust exposure is a fundamental misunderstanding of what this tool is supposed to be used for. It would be like hammering in a screw and then saying the hammer is useless because it did not work correctly. You use the right tool for the right time.

Also we do not need to report the results of these tests to the state. They already have models that extrapolate how many people are actually infected depending on how many positive tests and hospitalizations there are. As is evidenced by this conversation there needs to be more education about the tools that we have and not extra reporting that is probably not worth the energy and time expended. The tools are meant to decrease our time waiting for PCR tests and hospital beds and to target who should be candidates for the new Pfizer pill treatment that is coming out.

I am sorry that your son has gotten sick and wish him well. Let's stick together in this difficult time.

https://www.cnn.com/2022/01/04/health/cdc-updated-guidance-covid-isolation/index.html

justchecking, I have been working in public health for 30 years have done the contact tracing for this pandemic and been involved at the State level planning for pandemics and bioterrorism events since 9/11 and your statements concerning viral loads and the use of models is news to me. Interesting stuff for sure.