As of last week, the World Health Organization has rated coronavirus as a global pandemic. COVID virus has swept to over 114 countries with more than 4,000 people killed. The United States public health sector is currently is seriously underprepared. It lacks enough test kits that could help diagnose this illness and prevent future spread.
Reported illnesses have ranged from mild symptoms to severe illness and death for confirmed coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) cases.
At-risk patients might develop symptoms 2-14 days after exposure:
In more severe cases, the infection can cause pneumonia, severe acute respiratory syndrome, kidney failure, and even death.
The best strategy to limit the spread of the pandemic is to apply the social distancing method. You should limit your exposure to large crowds to prevent community spread. Preferably stay at home and limit close contact with other people.
Prevention steps
The current recommended method by Centers for Disease Control (CDC) is to do one of these lab tests:
As of now, the testing capacity is severely limited and patients already report waiting up to 4 hours to get tested for the COVID virus. But fortunately, there is an alternative to these tests:
Based on the research conducted in Wuhan, China, the CT scan might be the alternative that can offer coronavirus testing and help diagnose this illness at this point in time. The research from the above quotes only about 3.9% misdiagnosis. Also, there are already 6,000+ plus CT scans available in the US across outpatient centers, so this makes tests for COVID more accessible.
You can use our AffordableScan imaging centers search to look for an outpatient imaging center or a hospital, that offers a CT scan in your area. Contact them to check if they have the right protocol to serve patients at risk of the COVID virus. Immediately, you should your primary physician for a referral for a CT scan for this imaging procedure.
We are putting together a list of centers that have set-up the right medical protocol to conduct these tests and have also vouched to accept any coronavirus at-risk patients. If you have difficulty finding one of those, please contact us at get.affordablescan.com.