Doctors explain when you should get a PCR

test (2022/04/26)

With COVID cases surging, hospitals are being flooded by

people who want a PCR test. At a large Taipei hospital, one

doctor says there's a line day and night outside the emergency

room. The CECC said Tuesday that not everybody should get a

PCR test. When can you skip it, and when is one truly needed?

The Taiwan Society of Emergency Medicine explains.

A big crowd waits at the test site, as people are called up one by

one for a swab. With COVID cases rising, residents of Taipei

and New Taipei are flocking to hospitals to get tested. On social

media, one doctor shared photos of people waiting by the

emergency clinic during the day, and even at night. Around

midnight, he wrote that there were still a dozen people waiting

for a test. Some had tested positive on a home test kit, and then

rushed to the hospital to get the results confirmed. They were

told that mild cases of COVID did not require medical attention.
Philip Lo

CECC medical response division

In the emergency rooms of Northern Taiwan, a problem we’re

seeing is that people are going in, and the top reason for ER

visits is that they tested positive at home and want a PCR test at

the emergency clinic. People who test positive at home and

people who have not taken any rapid test – these people should

not go to emergency clinics unless they have warning signs and

symptoms.

Chen Shih-chung

CECC

We’d like to stress once again that PCR tests are not just

administered to everyone who wants one. If your situation does

not qualify as a special circumstance, doing the test is just a

waste of resources. Another thing is that going to get tested

comes with some risks. So don’t go unless you need to.

The Taiwan Society of Emergency Medicine has released

guidelines on what to do. People who have no known contact

history should not get a PCR test. People who are identified as

contacts or who test positive in a rapid test should go to a

community center for PCR testing.

Huang Li-min

NTU Children’s Hospital superintendent

If you have no known contact history with a confirmed case, or

if you have no solid reason to suspect you have been infected –

if you just want to take a test to see whether you have been

infected, then just use a rapid test kit at home. That reduces

human movement and contact, which helps prevent the outbreak

from becoming bigger.

Doctors say there is no need to panic and rush to ERs for testing.

By skipping the hospital, people can reduce the risk of disease

transmission and save medical resources for those who need it.