– This is a demonstration of how fast you can become positive!
This is what the British epidemiologist Billy Quilty writes Twitter. He works as an epidemiologist for infectious diseases at the London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine.
According to Quilty, the tests on the photograph were taken on Wednesday morning, at lunchtime on Wednesday, Wednesday evening and Thursday morning.
Norway is now on the worst list
As the picture shows, the quick tests did not show a clear and distinct positive answer until Thursday morning. Wednesday night, however, one can see a faint streak.
– Take the test just before
Quilty believes this shows one important thing for those who use rapid tests to make sure they are not infected before meeting others:
– Take the quick tests immediately before you meet someone, he writes.
Quilty confirms in another post that it is his own rapid tests, and that both he and his family are infected with the virus.
– We have all received it after the weekend, unfortunately. But everyone has mild symptoms so far, he writes.
They have further informs that he has taken two AstraZeneca vaccines, and received one Pfizer booster just over a week ago.
The post has been shared almost 13,000 times, and has received more than 27,000 likes. Several from medical professions have also commented.
Takes a short time
Among other things, the British doctor Marya Alexander has said that she agrees:
Settlement with the unvaccinated: – What’s the point?
– Strongly consider getting everyone who is going to attend a gathering to take a quick test 1-2 hours on conditions. Have extra tests available for those who have forgotten it, before they come in, she writes Twitter.
She points out that it only takes 15-20 minutes.
– In the morning you can have a negative result, but before it is evening, it may have been positive, she writes and refers to an article published in The Atlantic A few days ago.
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Here it is stated that a rapid test is only a snapshot, and that omikron seems to have a shorter incubation period than previous variants.
– It means that a result from a few days ago does not mean much, it says in the article.
Everyone had tested themselves
Marya Alexander also refers to the Christmas table outburst in Oslo, where all participants were asked to take a quick test before they showed up at the party.
This is how both mutants can ravage
Everyone reported that they had had a negative result (PCR or rapid test) one to three days before the Christmas table, according to FHI’s preliminary report.
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Discovery Health, which is South Africa’s largest insurance company, has conducted a study of the properties of the omicron variant, discussed by Washington Post.
Shorter incubation time
According to the company’s CEO, Ryan Noach, they have collected anecdotal evidence from doctors who treated patients outside the hospitals, which shows a shorter incubation period of three to four days.
Assistant director of health Espen Rostrup Nakstad, says that the challenge with the omicron variant is that it is significantly more contagious.
– It is so contagious that if you have then taken a quick test maybe half a day before you go to the Christmas table, or maybe the day before it again, then you can in the worst case risk that you get infected in the meantime, he says to Dagbladet.
Unvaccinated: – Violent pneumonia
Because the virus is so contagious, you can in principle infect many others even if you have been vaccinated, he explains.
– But with most people who get omicron when they are in a disease phase where they have symptoms, it will probably affect the rapid test, he says.
Infection before symptoms
He says that a quick test will be reliable enough to find out if you are ill, but not good enough to guarantee that you will not be infected until you get symptoms.
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– It is the challenge with this coronavirus, no matter which variant we are talking about, that it leads to quite a lot of infection between people before you notice that you have symptoms, Nakstad explains, and elaborates:
– You simply have to be aware of this, and keep in mind that a quick test is no guarantee that you can not be contagious shortly afterwards.
Lene (26) sounds the alarm: – There is a crisis
Although a PCR test may be a little more sensitive, Nakstad says that it is also not a guarantee that you will not be infected.
– Not if 12 hours or more have passed since you took the test until you actually go to an event, he emphasizes.
– Infectious very early
– Have you received indications that the incubation period, ie the time that elapses from the time you become infected until the disease breaks out, is shorter with omicron?
Assistant health director Espen Rostrup Nakstad explains what many people do wrong when they use self-tests. Video: Dagbladet TV
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– At least we have indications that it is shorter for the delta virus than the old viruses we had. It looks like it is between one and seven days, says Nakstad, and continues:
– There are very many who get sick on day two or three, it looks like in the numbers. But with the mutant properties of the omicron variant, it is likely that you can become infected very early.
– Can take one day
This means that it takes quite a short time from the time you are exposed to the virus until you actually have the infection and can infect others.
– It can take as little as one day, Nakstad points out.
Involves the Christmas holidays
– And it is very challenging, because then you can infect others before you have time to think that you have been to a place where there was omicron virus.
It can happen so fast that you may not have had time to develop symptoms yet, and thus have not thought about testing yourself, he explains.
– It can also help explain why this variant spreads as fast as it does, for example in the UK, says Nakstad.
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