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COVID-19 symptoms vary, doctors say
Published 12:33 PDT, Thu April 9, 2020
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“No particular set of signs or symptoms can reliably diagnose COVID-19,” said epidemiologist Dr. Elliott Raizes of the Centres for Disease Control in Atlanta.
Raizes made the comment during a COVID-19 update for health care professionals earlier this week. The Internet-based symposium, attended by 8,500 doctors around the world, was hosted by Academic Medical Education.
At the same symposium, virologist Dr. Anne-Geneviève Marcelin said the virus that causes COVID-19 will only test positive from a nasal swab during the first week of symptoms. Marcelin was one of six virus experts to present during the symposium.
Marcelin said after the initial week of symptoms, the virus moves further down the respiratory tract. For this reason, a nasal swab test may miss up to a third of patients who have COVID-19, telling them they are well when they are actually contagious.
“(Virus testing) combined with antibody detection improves the sensitivity of diagnosis of COVID-19 in the first week to 99.4 per cent,” said Marcelin. “This combined technique could be very useful for testing health care workers.”
With several major religious celebrations this week, provincial health officer Dr. Bonnie Henry and Health Minister Adrian Dix cautioned people not to get together for a meal, and not to travel even within the province.
Henry said social distancing, staying home, covering your mouth with your elbow when you sneeze and washing your hands are the best ways to prevent catching COVID-19. She said passing someone on a jogging or biking trail is low risk, and that getting out in the fresh air is fine—as long as people stay apart.
When federal public health officer Dr. Theresa Tam was asked at a recent national press conference about penalties for those who do not stay home, practice social distancing, or observe a strict 14-day quarantine when returning to Canada, she was clear.
“Ultimately the penalty is dead Canadians.”
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