Sonoma Hospital on concerns about the accuracy of its Covid tests
Sonoma Valley Hospital’s Chief Medical Officer, Sabrina Kidd, MD, has addressed concerns over the accuracy of COVID testing, a topic of sometimes wild speculation on social media.
SVH COVID-19 testing at SVH is currently run through either the Department of Public Health or UCSF, Kidd clarified. “The specimens collected are nasal pharyngeal specimens which are more accurate than specimens collected from the mouth.”
There is known variance in test results for several reasons, she explained. The main reason is the amount of virus (viral load) a person has at a given time. If this is low (early in the illness or after 7-10 days of symptoms) tests may come back as false negatives. This happens with all PCR-based tests, she said.
SVH will present a COVID Zoom update on July 30 , details below.
“Rapid Point-Of-Care tests (POC) are less accurate than PCR tests and Sonoma Valley Hospital is not using any POC tests at this time.” Still, doubt may exist and Dr. Kidd says, “if patients have increasing symptoms and a high suspicion for COVID-19 despite a negative test, they are encouraged to discuss additional testing with their healthcare provider.”
The demand for tests nationally has created kit shortages and delays in processing. “We face these same concerns and challenges: not enough tests, longer than expected delays to obtain results, lack of equipment, reliability of results, and public testing availability,” Kidd said.
Because COVID-19 testing is essential and remains critical, “we are looking into the means of procuring our own testing equipment for both PCR and antibody testing.”
Zoom community meeting
To keep the community informed on recent COVID-19 developments, SVH will host an update through Zoom on Thursday, July 30, 2:30 – 3:30 pm. The webinar will be led by Sabrina Kidd, MD, Chief Medical Officer for the hospital. She will provide an update on the COVID-19 situation in California and locally, availability of testing, and answer questions raised by community members ahead of time.
To attend the online presentation, please enroll online here(vintagehouse.org/events). For more information and to submit your questions in advance, please email community@
