Coronavirus diagnostic tests have been performed on 0.36% of the population of Lanzarote since the beginning of this health crisis more than a month and a half ago, reaching a total of 557 people as of this Wednesday, who, according to the Health Department, met the requirements that are being followed to carry out the tests. In addition, another 73 tests have been carried out among diagnosed patients to confirm whether they have already overcome the disease.
Of the total tests carried out so far, 75 have been analyzed in Lanzarote and the other 538 in Gran Canaria, since for several weeks the Molina Orosa Hospital did not have the necessary material. After the arrival of that material more than a week ago, it was announced that Lanzarote would have the capacity to carry out up to 100 tests per day, but the average that has been followed since then is about 20 per day, all of them through PCR (acronym in English for 'Polymerase Chain Reaction').
Now, since this Wednesday, the rapid tests that were received a week ago on the island have also begun to be used, but the manager of Health Services of Lanzarote, José Luis Aparicio, clarifies that a "false expectation" has been created with these tests, since they can only be used for specific cases. The reason is that what they detect is not the virus, but the antibodies that the body generates to combat it. Therefore, for its correct operation, it is necessary that two weeks have passed since the onset of the disease, so that its result adjusts to reality and does not give false negatives.
In this way, rapid tests will be used as a complementary system, but the main one will continue to be PCR tests. And from the Molina Orosa Hospital they assure that they already have that capacity to perform 100 daily -although they have only carried out a total of 75 since the beginning of the crisis-, but they also maintain that it is necessary to be prudent and follow the protocol for its use.
"People with mild symptoms do not need to be tested"
"All the necessary tests are done, we do not set a specific number of tests to be carried out each day", explained the manager of Health Services of Lanzarote, who affirms that in the last week fewer tests are being carried out because the number of people with severe symptoms on the island has been reduced.
In addition, José Luis Aparicio insists that they are following the "protocol" established by the Ministry of Health, which establishes which patients should be "prioritized", so for the moment it is not planned to extend the performance of tests to other sectors of the population. Thus, these are still carried out only on people with severe symptoms; on "essential operators", such as health workers and police; on elderly people living in residences and on patients with previous pathologies that may generate complications with the coronavirus.
"The general population, if the symptoms are mild, does not need to be tested," defends the manager. This means that both in Lanzarote and in the whole of Spain, many people are going through the disease without being part of the official statistics, which only include the positives confirmed through the tests. In the case of people who present mild symptoms that coincide with those of Covid-19, they are attended by telephone from Primary Care and a follow-up is carried out with calls, but without carrying out the tests. Thus, they remain as "suspected" cases, but doctors indicate that it is most likely that they have the disease and that therefore they must keep total isolation in their homes, as if they had tested positive.
More than 1,250 people attended by telephone on the island
Although the total number of people in this situation on the island has not been provided so far, the Health Services Management reported this Tuesday that 1,250 patients were attended during the month of March by telephone from Primary Care, and many of them would be part of those suspected cases of Covid-19 not confirmed.
"Complementary tests should only be done if their result can change the management of the patient. If there is not going to be any change, they should not be done," says the manager, who insists that what people with mild symptoms should do is "stay in their homes." "Patients with mild symptoms of coronavirus do not need PCR, just as patients with mild flu do not need it either," insists Aparicio, reiterating that these are the guidelines set by the Ministry of Health. In this regard, it should be remembered that not all countries are following the same criteria and the World Health Organization already urged Spain weeks ago to increase the number of tests it was carrying out, but the limitation has been in the shortage of material.
Regarding rapid tests, this Wednesday they have begun to be carried out in nursing homes in Lanzarote, both for users and staff. Afterwards, the intention is to also apply them to workers in essential services, such as police and civil guards, firefighters or NGO personnel.