Thread by @AbraarKaran

1/ Spoke w/ @AnnaMeiler @wbz for this piece- should you get tested for #covid19 after protesting?

For multiple reasons, I would say yes.

Even more important will be quarantining for 2 weeks to avoid inadvertent spread in the home to vulnerable family.

boston.cbslocal.com/video/4585056-…

2/ At an individual level, the sooner you know you are positive, the more quickly you can strictly isolate, although you should really be quarantining judiciously either way.

Secondly, it can help us understand transmission dynamics better, especially outdoors.

3/ The next key question would be when is the ideal time to get tested.

One issue is false negatives, especially if you are tested the same day of purported exposure.

Data I’ve seen is not great, but points away from testing rt-PCR the exact same day.

acpjournals.org/doi/10.7326/M2…

4/ With median incubation period from exposure to symptoms being around 5 days, & viral load rapidly rising from around 2 days prior up to the day of symptoms, I would guess that testing 2-3 days+ after exposure makes the most sense from a probability of detection stand point.

5/ I really liked this @NEJM piece by @akesselheim & colleagues on thinking critically about false negatives and pre-test probability.

We have a lot to figure out still, but it would seem that a more ideal situation would be getting tested a couple of times over 2 week window.

6/ With that being said, I personally do not think that your chance of infection at a protest is the same across the board.

Some things that I think make transmission more likely:

•crowding

•tear gassing

•removing mask

•physical altercation (close contact)
•detaining