Dangers of Self Test:"Bell" from Germany

The President of the German Society of State Physicians, said self-test systems create the illusion of safety, while the accuracy of their results leaves much to be desired.

This “bell” is especially important for Greece, as the government has high hopes for the reopening of schools, believing that mandatory rapid tests, which are completely dependent on the individual behavior of citizens, will see real results and prevent the further spread of coronavirus.

According to Ute Teichert, president of the Federal Association of Public Health Physicians, the behavior of some people after rapid diagnosis for coronavirus is risky and therefore requires vigilance.

“Now we are massively using these rapid diagnostic tests, but the citizens were not informed about the consequences and how they should behave in the future. The virus is spreading and we can no longer figure out what to do. I see a danger in this. We have to look at the problem of diagnostic tests from a different, very critical point of view, ”Ute Teichert, President of the Federal Association of Public Sector Physicians (BVÖGD), told the German News Agency (dpa).

“I have seen many times people who tested positive, then they were extremely dangerous and instead of immediately isolating themselves, they went first for additional tests because they were skeptical about the first result. However, in this way they could spread the virus further. I also found that people who had contact with other infected people then did a quick diagnostic test, and after the result was negative, they thought they shouldn’t do anything else. So many infected people are slipping out of our sight. However, in the event of a negative diagnostic test result, it should always be remembered that the result is only valid for a few hours. This is why the suggested behavioral recommendations after these tests should be better known. “

The Robert Koch Institute (RKI) has repeatedly emphasized that after a negative rapid diagnostic test, a person should not be falsely confident that they do not need to continue to take protective measures. According to the RKI publication on self-diagnosis tests published at the end of February, it is very likely that a person whose test was negative, if he does a quick diagnostic test the next day, the result will be positive. If the test is positive, isolation at home and telephone communication with a family doctor or a suitable diagnostic testing center is recommended to carry out a molecular PCR test to confirm if he is infected with the coronavirus.

The Greek peculiarity should be added to the above. It is difficult (although in principle possible) to imagine the possibility that a German, having received a positive test, will report that everything is fine with him and will go to work. In Greece, however, this is quite common.

There are at least 3 reasons for this:

The social security system does not guarantee that the patient will receive financial compensation for the time when he is not working, especially if he is a private entrepreneur or businessman. Mass distrust of express texts, which in the opinion of the population (quite by the way justified) have a probability of error just below 50%. In fact, leading to the fact that the testing procedure turns into a banal fortune-telling: to believe – not to believe. The peculiarity of the mentality of the inhabitants of Greece, a country where there is no respect for the law and the orders of the authorities. However, the authorities themselves respond with the same population, turning the state machine into something amorphous.
One example is recently arrested teacher in Cretewho refused to take the test and went to work without a mask. And from the side of the state leadership, the mess perfectly illustrates behavior Prime Minister Kiryakos Mitsotakis, who repeatedly and quite publicly violated the quarantine measures signed by him. The teachers were arrested, and the prime minister not only refused to leave after he was caught in violation of the law, but did not even consider it necessary to apologize.

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