Testing and Contact Tracing Archives

April 10, 2021

Dear Pandemic COVID Q&A

In this live Q&A, we’re teaming up with our science gal-pals at the Unbiased Science Podcast, Drs. Andrea Love and Jessica Steier! We’ll be answering reader questions about antibody testing after vaccination, viral variants & kids, #thrifting, and whether your COVID-19 vaccine can make you test positive for COVID. https://www.facebook.com/unbiasedscipod/ ➡️ Welcome, Intros, and Comments …

January 30, 2021

Home poop tests anyone?

Testing and Contact Tracing

Q: I’ve heard that some colleges are testing wastewater from dorms to find out if there is Covid. Does this mean there could be accurate(ish) home fecal tests in our future? I can’t decide if I want the answer to be yes or no. A. The Nerdy Girls support innovation, accuracy, affordability, and accessibility. And …

January 6, 2021

New Rapid Home Test for COVID-19

Infection and Spread Testing and Contact Tracing

Q: I heard that the FDA approved several new rapid home test for diagnosis of COVID-19. Are the rapid tests just as good as the others? Can I take this one before I visit family? A: TL; DR: No, rapid tests are not quite as good at picking up positives (someone who really has COVID-19) …

December 29, 2020

What lessons can we learn from the contact tracers?

Testing and Contact Tracing

We talked to someone who has been working as a state contact tracer since May. She gave us a list of practical things you can do today to make contact tracers’ jobs easier: 1️⃣ Clear out your voicemail so they can leave a message! 📪 2️⃣ Make sure you have a thermometer at home. 🌡️ …

December 26, 2020

With all this holiday travel, why don’t airports have COVID-sniffing dogs?

Data and Metrics Testing and Contact Tracing

A: As noted in prior posts, highly trained dogs have the incredible capacity to successfully detect the odor of people with COVID-19 by sniffing human sweat. Pilot programs using COVID-sniffing dogs to detect infection among potential passengers have already launched in airports in Finland, the United Arab Emirates, and most recently Chile. These pilot projects …

December 19, 2020

Why are COVID-19 numbers lower on the weekends?

Data and Metrics Testing and Contact Tracing

A: TL, DR: The weekly pattern of fewer COVID-19 cases and deaths on the weekends is primarily due to differences in testing timing and reporting delays, but some of the pattern may be due to increased weekend socializing. Based on publicly available data, there is a widely observed ‘weekend effect’ with fewer COVID-19 cases and …

December 16, 2020

What’s up with the new CDC guidelines for shorter quarantine periods?

Testing and Contact Tracing

A: The guidelines represent a “most bang for your buck” approach to preventing transmission of COVID-19 at the population level–but quarantining for 14 days is still the recommended and safest approach. While our scientific understanding of how long it takes to develop COVID-19 symptoms after being exposed (science term: incubation period) still says up to …

November 23, 2020

Has my COVID bubble gotten out of control? How can I tell?

Families Infection and Spread School Socializing Staying Safe Testing and Contact Tracing

A: Your “bubble” might be far bigger than you think. To figure out exactly how big and who you might be sharing germs with, think like a contact tracer and sketch out your contact network. 🖧 If you need to pull out a piece of paper to figure this out, that’s a whole lot of …

November 7, 2020

Why are universities doing things like testing wastewater and pooling spit?

Testing and Contact Tracing

A: Testing samples of wastewater and pooled spit in places with communal living, such as colleges and universities, provide several valuable benefits in detecting COVID-19. TESTING OF ASYMPTOMATIC PEOPLE. When people are living and socializing together in the same building, there is a risk of asymptomatic spread. If you wait until people are symptomatic to …

November 6, 2020

I heard there was a large COVID-19 outbreak at an overnight summer school retreat in WI. What happened?!

Infection and Spread Testing and Contact Tracing

A: Retreat organizers relied primarily on a test-based strategy for preventing individuals with COVID-19 from attending the retreat and didn’t employ other measures to prevent transmission of COVID-19 among attendees. This did not work. Consequently, a single attendee who became ill the day after arriving led to 116 other attendees (76% of attendees) becoming a …

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