COVID-19 testing may not be enough to protect you at family gatherings

PITTSBURGH — If you’re planning to get together with your extended family for Thanksgiving, will a COVID-19 test be enough to protect you and your loved ones?

Dr. Nathan Shively , an infectious disease doctor with Allegheny Health Network, said it depends on whether you were exposed to the virus and when that was.

“We see false negative tests early in the disease or early after exposure. So, if you get a test that is negative, several days before Thanksgiving, that does not mean that you’re virus free on Thanksgiving,” Shively said.

Shively believes people let their guard down with family because they’re most comfortable around them.

“People might be less vigilant with the things we’ve been talking about all along: masking, distancing, hand hygiene,” he said. “I worry about that false sense of security people might get, even with a negative test.”

On top of that, he said tests are hard to come by right now. AHN is only testing people with COVID-19 symptoms.

“We just don’t have the amount of tests,” said Dr. Shively. “To turn around those tests faster and those that we need answers on, those that are hospitalized, and on a ventilator, we need to know if those COVID tests are positive.”

Dr. Shively said a traditional Thanksgiving get together is high risk and recommends not to do it. His fear is that if a lot of families get together, “It’s really a set up for an explosion of COVID cases and I worry from a public health standpoint that that might overwhelm our hospital systems.”

If you do choose to get together, Dr. Shively said get together outside, have separate tables for separate households, don’t share food, stay six feet apart, and wear your mask.

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Cox Media Group