COVID-19 Test and Vaccine Primer

Albany County — The county continued to break the COVID-19 record on Friday, with 104 residents hospitalized, 21 of whom were admitted to the intensive care unit.

“We know that COVID-19 is not something to play with. In the midst of a pandemic, one of the two doctors who opened the Central Med Urgent Care on August 23, Colony’s Central Avenue 1662. One Nosa Aigbe Lebarty said:

Born and raised in Nigeria and holding a medical degree from the University of Poznan School of Medicine in Poland, Aigbe is also the founder and president of. Project Health Africa, Providing healthcare products to Africa.

At a press conference Friday morning, Albany County administration Daniel McCoy asked Aigbe to talk about the COVID-19 test.

According to Aigbe, his emergency medical center conducts 80-100 COVID-19 tests, including rapid tests, PCR tests, and antibody tests, 10 hours a day.

“There is a lot of demand for it,” he said of the test.

Antibody tests, as the name implies, look for antibodies that the body’s immune system has made against the virus.

Such tests cannot be used to diagnose COVID-19 due to the time it takes to develop antibodies. Rather, antibody testing tells you if a person has been infected with the virus.

Blood is usually drawn from the fingertips for antibody testing.

“At this point, researchers do not know if the presence of antibodies means that they are immune to COVID-19 in the future,” he said. Food and Drug Administration.

There are two types of diagnostic tests for COVID-19: molecular tests such as PCR tests that detect the genetic material of the virus, and antigen tests that detect specific proteins in the virus.

Both are usually taken from a nasal swab. saliva It can also be used for specific PCR tests.

PCR tests that detect viral genetic material using an technique called the polymerase chain reaction are usually very accurate and do not need to be repeated. According to the FDA, Antigen testing (results may be obtained within 15-30 minutes) is more likely to miss an active COVID-19 infection. Negative results may need to be confirmed by molecular testing.

“The gold standard is PCR,” says Aigbe. However, he also said that rapid antigen testing performed at his emergency medical center “tends to reflect PCR almost 100 percent.”

“We still need to comply with state guidelines,” he said. Therefore, if a patient with COVID-19 symptoms gets a negative measurement on a rapid antigen test, a molecular PCR test should be done.

Aigbe said he observed that more people were tested positive than initially two weeks after exposure to COVID-19, rather than based on scientific experiments.

The US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has changed its guidelines for reducing quarantine or quarantine periods, but New York has maintained the initial 14 days.

“It’s inconvenient for people,” Aigbe said, but given that so many tests return positive two weeks after exposure, people should follow the 14-day rule.

“We tend to get bored with things that are very long,” he said.

Aigbe also honestly encouraged the example of a friend among his patients who did not tell his friend that they were tested despite the fact that they were gathered.

“It’s the snowball effect,” he said.

vaccination

Governor Andrew Cuomo said at a press conference on Friday that 19,000 New Yorkers have been vaccinated against COVID-19 so far.

McCoy said he had heard from people who didn’t want to be “guinea pigs” and didn’t want to be vaccinated. The first dose, created by Pfizer and BioNTech, is given to high-risk healthcare professionals and nursing home residents.

According to McCoy, more than 95% of the residents of the county’s nursing home, Shaker Place, have agreed to be vaccinated. The first dose given through Walgreens is scheduled for Monday or Wednesday.

Nursing home workers will not be vaccinated until February, and some workers do not want to be vaccinated, McCoy said. He asked Aigbe if the vaccine was safe.

Aigbe said the vaccine was developed under the federal project name “Warp Speed,” so there is good reason for people to be cornered.

Pfizer did not use federal funding, but this was the first time it was used for emergencies Approval For vaccines from the FDA. The New York State Clinical Advisory Task Force also approved it.

The vaccine, developed by Moderna, Massachusetts, will receive an emergency use authorization from the FDA next week.

Cuomo announced on Friday that a state committee had considered and approved the use of the vaccine in New York, following the recommendations of the FDA’s Advisory Board on Emergency Authorization for Modana Vaccines.

“Our clinical advisory task force approved Moderna this morning,” Cuomo said at a press conference on Friday. “So we talked about skepticism about the national federal approval process. He said he would set up a New York panel to confirm federal approval.”

According to Cuomo, New York will be vaccinated with about 346,000 modana vaccines next week, waiting for the FDA’s final approval. It has been added to Pfizer’s 170,000 and can be expanded further.

Cuomo said the state’s Ministry of Health has approved and issued guidance on the additional one or two doses found in the shipment of Pfizer vaccine. Pfizer’s vaccine vials were previously thought to contain 5 doses each, but may contain 6 or 7 doses.

“We have distributed the Pfizer and Moderna vaccines to 292 sites throughout the state,” Cuomo said on Friday. “There is something called a regional hub, a medical facility that is working on a Phase 2 distribution plan.”

Albany Medical Center is a hub in the metropolitan area.

In late January, Cuomo said New York would begin Phase 2 to vaccinate “essential workers, priorities and the general public.”For details, see the state website..

Both Pfizer and Moderna vaccines use new technologies for messenger RNA or mRNA.

“Many vaccines put weakened or inactivated bacteria into our body to provoke an immune response. They are not mRNA vaccines.” Learn about CDC.. “Instead, they teach our cells how to make a protein, or part of a protein, that triggers an immune response in our body. The immune response that produces antibodies is that the real virus is me. It prevents them from getting infected when they get into our bodies. “

RNA (ribonucleic acid), such as DNA (deoxyribonucleic acid), is a nucleic acid. The CDC emphasizes that mRNA never enters the nucleus of a cell. DNA genetic material is retained in the nucleus of the cell. Rather, the cells break down and use the instructions to clear the mRNA shortly after exiting.

The CDC describes the entire mRNA vaccination process as follows: “The COVID-19 mRNA vaccine tells cells to make a harmless part called a” spike protein. ” Peplomers are found on the surface of the virus that causes COVID-19.

“The COVID-19 mRNA vaccine is given to the muscles of the upper arm. When the instructions (mRNA) enter the immune cells, the cells use them to make protein pieces. After the protein pieces are made, the cells Break down the instructions and get rid of them.

“The cell then displays a piece of protein on its surface. Our immune system recognizes that the protein does not belong to it and builds an immune response, as it does with a natural infection against COVID-19. And start making antibodies.

“At the end of the process, our body learned how to protect against future infections. Like all vaccines, the benefits of mRNA vaccines endanger the serious consequences of getting sick with COVID-19. Without it, the vaccinated person can get this protection. “

“The goal is to outlaw the body’s response to that protein … it’s not going to change your genetic makeup,” Aigbe said.

He concluded that the vaccine was “safe … I will give it.”

Latest number

“New York is still at the bottom of the national curve and that’s good news. Big question: Is there a shutdown?” Cuomo asked at a press conference on Friday.

After that, he said: “I think New Yorkers can slow down the spread and hospitals can manage the growth. These are two variables … I think New Yorkers are seeing the number and growth of Thanksgiving, and they’re going to learn from it. I think.”

After Thanksgiving holidays, Albany County is certainly on the rise.

As of Friday morning, there were 8,747 confirmed cases in the county, McCoy said.

Of the 220 new cases, 22 are in close contact with persons infected with the disease, 176 have no clear source of infection at this time, and 22 are healthcare professionals or collective residents.

The 5-day average of new daily positives increased from 186.4 to 195.8. From 1,601 on Thursday, there are currently 1,637 active cases in the county.

The number of county residents under compulsory quarantine has decreased from 3,245 to 3,237. So far, 30,134 residents have completed quarantine. Of them, 7,110 tested positive and recovered.

Fourteen new hospitalizations were reported overnight, with 104 residents currently hospitalized for the virus and a net increase of four. The intensive care unit has 18 to 21 county residents yesterday.

The death toll from COVID-19 in Albany County remains at 188.

Based on Thursday’s test results, the state-wide positive rate was 5.25 percent. The percentage of the metropolitan area that includes Albany County was 6.49%.

The metropolitan area has 331 patients hospitalized with COVID-19, which is 0.03 percent of the population, and 25 percent of the beds in the area are available. Across the state, 0.03 percent of New Yorkers are hospitalized with COVID-19 and 27 percent of beds are available.

There are 253 ICU beds in the metropolitan area, of which 177 are occupied and 35% are available. 33 percent of ICU beds are available throughout the state.