Keeping Communities Safe With Environmental Testing – Interview With Scientists in Indonesia and Singapore
From rapid antigen tests to gold standard RT-PCR assays, testing and contact tracing have become fixtures in our lives to help stave off the spread of COVID-19. After all, many of the symptoms like fever and sneezing overlap with other illnesses like the common flu. Not to mention, a large proportion of cases hardly show any symptoms at all.
With in-person activities like events and schooling now starting back up, health experts and authorities are hoping to keep disease transmission low even as restrictions ease. Flagging surges in COVID-19 cases is vital to initiating a quick and effective public health response, such as by imposing localized lockdowns or increasing testing efforts in the area.
But without proper surveillance systems in place, the virus can stealthily spread through communities. To this end, the answer may lie in moving beyond individualized screening to broader environmental testing—supplementing clinical diagnoses with community-wide health monitoring.
Discover how environmental testing can equip the public health system with better means to monitor and curb the spread of infectious diseases.
