Rapid antigen testing 'not being used as widely as it could', according to immunologist
Signs for antigen Covid testing at Terminal 2 at Dublin Airport. Picture: Brian Lawless
Rapid antigen testing will add an extra layer of protection in the fight against Covid-19, an immunology expert has said.
While there were valid concerns about the false sense of security such testing sometimes generated, if rapid tests were carried out two to three times a week it could be very effective as it would pick up the presence of the virus during the peak of infection, Kingston Mills, Professor of Experimental Immunology at Trinity College Dublin explained.
Rapid antigen testing could be used in schools, universities, workplaces and at sporting and cultural events, he told RTÉ radio’s Morning Ireland.
The system was already being used in meat plants in Ireland and in other countries. “It Is not being used as widely as it could in Ireland.”
People could have a negative rapid test result, but still be incubating the virus which was why they should be tested two to three times a week, he said.
“If it’s being done frequently it will be picked up. It will take infected people out of the system.” “There are huge advantages (to using rapid antigen testing) as an extra layer of protection.”
When asked about mandatory hotel quarantine, Prof Mills said that a period of isolation for new arrivals was a good thing and that under the previous system people were not doing that and it had been difficult to enforce.
The biggest threat to the country was the South African and Brazilian variants so it was important to keep them out.
As the parent of a daughter who was in the US and had already been vaccinated, he felt a sense of conflict about the US possibly being added to the list for mandatory quarantine and not being able to see loved ones.
Putting France and Germany on the list of countries for whom arrivals would have to go to mandatory hotel quarantine was “sensible” he said given the significant levels of the South African variant in those countries.
“We’ve had a few sporadic cases (of the variants), but they’ve been contained and that’s the way to do it.”
A professor of genetics warned that antigen testing is not an alternative to mandatory hotel quarantine.
Professor Aoife McLysaght, of Trinity College, told Newstalk Breakfast that the current lockdown could have been avoided if a mandatory hotel quarantine system had been in place last summer.
Lockdown was a blunt instrument which could have been avoided, she said.
Prof McLysaght cautioned that rapid antigen testing would not detect the virus if someone was infected while they were travelling to Ireland.
The Government was not taking on the challenge of widely implementing quarantine, she said. Instead they had left it to the public to deal with “all the difficulty” of lockdown and a prolonged pandemic.
“We (the Independent Scientific Advocacy Group) predicted the second wave and third wave, and said not to open for Christmas. That’s what people didn’t like to hear, but was unfortunately what people needed to hear.
“We’ve been trying to make people see what’s happening and understanding the consequences of actions.”
From next Tuesday, 26 new countries will have to abide by mandatory hotel quarantine from next Tuesday.
The Health Minister Stephen Donnelly has added them to the list of 33 'high risk' states.
Sinn Féin TD David Cullinane is concerned that no countries in Europe with surging Covid cases are included.
"What will concern people is that if we don't apply this to countries in Europe who are experiencing very high levels of infections or in the middle of a fourth wave and we have passengers coming in from those countries that don't have to quarantine in a hotel then the risk is obvious and the danger is obvious," said Mr Cullinane.
He said that mandatory quarantine is in place for non-essential travel and it is only right that those who are choosing to travel for non-essential reasons, especially from countries in Europe where there is a high level of infection, are subjected to the same mandatory quarantining as those travelling from other countries are.
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