St.Vincent and the Grenadines very own Infectious Disease Specialist Dr. Jerrol Thompson has broken down the reason for individuals who initially test negative for COVID-19, testing positive on their fifth day of quarantine.
“The first time they were tested they may have just caught that infection and it takes a while to incubate to really build up steam.
The virus is funny in that in that it adheres to the tissue at the back of the nose, the back of the tongue and the lungs and that’s why we test in those locations, it can go in a couple other places but those three places are where it loves.”
Dr. Thompson goes on to explain why a COVID-19 positive individual would test negative initially.
“If we just touched the tip of the nose hair and we send off that test, youmay not have taken a proper swab test, it’s an improper swab test, or if you just touch the tip of the tongue, you haven’t really tested the right place and therefore the test would come back negative when it is really positive and we call that something of false negative.”
To date, a total 2,529 persons have been tested for COVID-19 in St.Vincent and the Grenadines.
