A week after coronavirus testing was opened to anyone with symptoms, 50,000 tests have been taken, of which only 1,000 came back positive.
Just under 60,000 appointments were made for people to take a coronavirus test since last Monday. Of those, 50,000 tests were already done, with the remaining 10,000 due to take place today. Only 2 percent of the tests came back positive.
This is what Sjaak de Gouw, portfolio holder Infectious Disease Control of GGD GHOR, expected. “When we tested in healthcare, about 17 percent of the tests were positive among residents [of healthcare institutions] and employees. Then we also tested the teachers and contact professions, after which that percentage dropped to 5 percent. We had already assumed that the percentage of positive tests – now that the testing options have been further expanded – would be below 5 percent and it shows.”
90,000 unique callers in the first week
The GGD appears to have calculated the maximum capacity of testing centres and the phone line correctly. Although at the beginning of the week, there was a massive upsurge in phone calls (over 90,000 total unique callers throughout the week), in the end those who needed to be tested were able to get the necessary appointments.
Interestingly, at least 40% of those who called the phone line were not people with symptoms: many seem to have been people with questions about coronavirus and its implications, for example for summer holidays or seeing family members.
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