Replies to post #69890 on Decision Diagnostics Corp (DECN)

[pastrychf05]

Sure, it’s better than doing nothing, I guess - but not that effective, if 80% who have the virus show no symptoms and can infect others ....

[rawman]

Just pointing out that temperature checking is better than doing nothing but with so high % not showing any symptoms it is very limited solution

"Showing symptoms" is a very gray area. In a way "asymptomatic" is a misnomer, i.e. a misleading description. It implies the subject did not have any symptoms, when in reality the subject simply did not sense or did not recognize any symptoms.

Recognizing symptoms of any disease, including COVID-19, is not an exact science. Diseases do not set off "alerts", which signal, "You have COVID-19 symptoms". It is entirely possible an individual could register a 100 degree temperature and not know the fever even existed. What constitutes "shortness of breath"? And so forth! How many folks have been defined as asymptomatic, because these same folks did not know or were not concerned about apparently minor, possibly vague, COVID-19 symptoms. A thermometer would definitely help in addressing the "symptoms" problem. Basically, how many "asymptomatic" COVID-19 sufferers actually ran a slight fever? Nobody knows.

The Walmart measurement target is a temperature of 100 degrees or higher. There is certainly a very real possibility a person with a 100 degree temperature might be termed "asymptomatic", if the higher than normal temperature was never detected. In Walmart's case a temperature of 100 degrees sends the employee home to seek treatment and possibly a COVID-19 PCR test.

Here's the bottom-line. Much of the speculation about such things as daily testing of an entire workforce is a product of incomplete and often misunderstood data. Mass one-time serological antibody testing, would be a good place to start. Theoretically, those testing "positive" could quite possibly be deemed immune from any further near-term infection, i.e. no further testing needed. Also the "positive" group would represent a potential source of plasma that could be used to treat serious active virus cases. IMO, it seems clear the researchers and medical practitioners will make antibody testing happen. As Dr. Birx has implied, "It's not rocket science"! Every college and university medical research laboratory in the U.S. and around the world is currently equipped to make the antibody identification happen. Since the tests would be primarily focused on data accumulation, providing results would not be a time critical issue. Of course an important by-product of the testing would be the knowledge the COVID-19 antibodies are present or not present. In the short-run such information might serve to affect personal life-styles.

As mentioned earlier today, there is not a one size fits all solution! The mitigation and treatment of COVID-19 will be a evolutionary process. I am personally optimistic there will be much wider availability of active SARS-CoV2 testing, new treatments for those who have been diagnosed as having the disease, and improved healthcare delivery systems, including an adequate supply of hospital beds, PPE's, and ventilators, etc., come this Fall. Hopefully, we then will see the product of all the current research, i.e. a widely available vaccine for COVID-19 by Spring 2021.