COVID-19 Testing in high demand

ALBANY, Ga. – Since the holiday season wrapped up, COVID-19 testing has been in high demand. Making for people to go pharmacies and purchase at home covid testing kits.

I spoke with Dr. Charles Ruis, Director of Public Health Services at the Southwest Georgia Health District about at home testing kits and how accurate they are.

“We believe that the tests are particularly accurate if they are positive. So in health care we refer to that as a true positive.” says Dr. Ruis.

Although, if you were exposed to COVID-19 and test negative, Dr. Ruis advises you to follow up with a P-C-R test.

“We believe that the tests are particularly accurate if they are positive. So in health care we refer to that as a true positive.” says Dr. Ruis.

There are pros and cons when using these tests. But Dr. Ruis described more ups than downs when it comes to testing yourself at home.

“With the home tests you get immediate results especially if it’s a positive outcome, where as if you go somewhere to get a PCR test it could be 24 hours, it could be several days.” says Dr. Ruis.

But what’s the risk of exposing others if you’re experiencing symptoms?

“Well if they have COVID, if the passenger has COVID then that possibly exposes the driver. Another thing is when a person with COVID goes to one of our testing sites they potentially expose the healthcare worker so testing at home avoids those kind of risks

No appointment is needed for COVID testing at the Southwest Health District. For times and dates head over to https://swhealthdistrict.org