Published Thursday 16 April 2020 at 11:33
Our Director of Public Health and Wellbeing, Professor Dominic Harrison, has written another column for the Lancashire Telegraph: Testing us out of coronavirus.
Read it here:
Across Lancashire, we did really well at sticking to the lockdown over Easter- well done everyone!
This will have saved many lives.
We are today at the end of the first lockdown period and it will be rolled over as we are still experiencing a day on day rise in hospitalisations, critical care demand and COVID19 deaths.
There is some evidence of a flattening of the curve for new cases in London and the Midlands but it is too early yet to be absolutely certain that this will continue on a downwards trend.
We will be more confident in two or three weeks. We don’t want to take the risk of losing what we have achieved by opening up the current restrictions. I know this is difficult for us all.
COVID19 testing facilities are going to expand rapidly in coming weeks across Lancashire and South Cumbria with a drive through facility planned similar to the one now opened at Haydock Park, with others likely to follow on a smaller scale across the county.
These will initially be for NHS and some social care staff who have had to self- isolate for 7seven days with symptoms or 14 days if a member of their household has had symptoms. These centres will allow these key workers to be tested for the virus with the result being texted to them within 72 hours. If they are clear they can return to work quickly and help save lives.
National research has suggested that only about 15per cent of those self–isolating with symptoms will actually have the virus – but of course until we can test everyone, we just don’t know which 15per cent.
So it is important that everyone with symptoms continues to follow the guidance. We cannot assume if we have had symptoms and self-isolated that we are then immune to any future Covid19 infection. When we end our self–isolation with symptoms we must continue to socially distance, shelter if vulnerable, keep washing our hands and stick to the lockdown rules.
As the pandemic continues we will see increasing Covid19 test availability across the whole population. In a few months, there will be another test. This will confirm if you have been exposed, have antibodies and are immune. Sometime next year a vaccine will be produced and rolled out.
These three things will be the key to getting back to the ‘new normal’. Until then, we just need to be patient, keep to the rules and look after each other.
You can also find it on the Lancashire Telegraph website.