CORNWALL, ON / ACCESSWIRE / November 20, 2020 / The year 2020 has triggered a number of extremely important questions that will take years to fully answer, such as why the COVID-19 outbreak was not identified and minimized at the early stages, why governments around the world were short-stocked of N95 masks and other personal protective equipment, and why social distancing and isolation rules can be completely different between neighboring jurisdictions. Now, pharmacist Andrew Hanna is launching another vital inquiry that is doubtlessly going to raise a lot of eyebrows and ring plenty of alarm bells: is the COVID-19 testing system broken?
"The fundamental key to preventing an even more devastating wave of COVID-19 in 2021 and possibly beyond that is rooted in reliable testing," commented Andrew Hanna, a practicing pharmacist based on Cornwall, Ontario, and an active member of the Champlain Regional Pharmacist Committee. "We need to definitively know that COVID-19 testing is consistently generating accurate and reliable results, so that we can immediately isolate individuals who have the virus and monitor their symptoms, while we engage in contract tracing and limit community spread. However, what we are seeing in some cases are single individuals getting false-positive, false-negative, positive, and negative results. How can one person get tested four times for COVID-19, and get four different results?"
The dire consequences of false-positive COVID-19 tests cannot be underestimated. For example, individuals who need important elective procedures or surgeries will most likely have their treatment postponed or cancelled. In addition, many individuals will experience some degree of financial loss and/or psychological harm due to income reduction, cancelled travel and self-isolation. And the impact of false-negative results can literally be life threatening, such as when an infected individual who should be isolated is exposed to patients in a hospital, the elderly, or other vulnerable populations.
"Without robust and reliable testing - which means thoroughly understanding the science behind testing, and establishing transparency, openness, and knowledge sharing across all public health units and the broader medical and healthcare community - we will be unable to do what matters most right now, which is predict with confidence who is infected with COVID-19 and who is not," commented Andrew Hanna, who is an expert legal witness is pharmaceutical compounding for health legal firms. "We can only guess what is actually happening, and that is totally unacceptable. We need actionable intelligence to make smarter, safer and faster decisions that control the infection now and limit the spread going forward. This won't eliminate COVID-19, but it can help mitigate the damage until approved therapies and vaccines are widely distributed."
For more information, please visit https://andrewhanna.ca/.
About Andrew Hanna
Andrew Hanna is a bright and passionate pharmacist with an unparalleled enthusiasm for both the pharmaceutical industry and the medical community alike. He prides himself on bridging the gap between patients and doctors, providing affordable and quality pharmaceutical care, and maintaining a personal and supportive relationship with each and every one of his patients.
Contact:
Andrew Hanna
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Tel : +1 613-936-0000
Fax: +1 613-936-0008
Mon - Fri: 7am - 7pm
Saturday: 9am - 5pm
Sunday: Closed
SOURCE: Andrew Hanna