The COVID-19 pandemic is a great challenge for the industry, but the tests conducted within the shipping industry hide some dangers.
Specifically, Gard’s Kristin Urdahl, Senior Loss Prevention Executive, notes that the test method for detecting the virus is the PCR-tests which are thought to be an accurate way of identifying genetic material. Yet, she highlights that there are inherent problems when relying on such tests.
When using a PCR-test result always keep in mind:
- is only a snapshot of the level of virus in the body at the point in time when the test was taken;
- says nothing about what will happen in the days after the test was taken;
- will not detect whether the subject has had COVID-19 in the past;
- can, if taken too soon after infection, show a ‘false negative’ as the levels of virus in the body are still too low to be detected.
It is also commented that
all tests, test procedures and analyses carry some uncertainty.
In other words, there is always a possibility that the test samples are not good enough or there are problems in their analysis, such as contamination by other tests.
Therefore, even if the PCR-tests are considered to be accurate and the risk of experiencing ‘false positives’ is very low, the risk of ‘false negatives’ cannot be ruled out.