All About Blood Testing in the Age of Coronavirus
Most family doctors recommend that you get blood testing done once a year, usually at the same time as your physical. This ensures that you keep on top of your health.
But with the Coronavirus pandemic, blood testing and the atmosphere surrounding it has changed quite a bit.
Before the pandemic, people wouldn’t hesitate to set up blood test appointments and get them done at regular or semi-regular intervals. But due to the pandemic, doctor visits have fallen drastically.
People are using Telemedicine to get their annual physical checkups done, which isn’t the same as going to the doctor and getting a full blood workup done.
Read on to see how the Coronavirus pandemic is changing blood testing, for better and for worse.
Preventative Medicine and Care Is Still Pretty Crucial – Don’t Avoid It
The point of getting blood testing done regularly is as a sort of preventative measure against potential illnesses and also catching certain illnesses before they manifest in a full-blown format.
For example, if you get a blood test and it shows lower levels of Thyroid hormones in your blood, this could be an indicator that you have Hypothyroidism.
This way you can take measures to prevent the full-blown illness or you can start taking medicine to ease the symptoms.
Without a blood test, doctors are mostly walking around in the dark with regards to your health and symptoms.
The problem is that due to Coronavirus, a lot of people who were pretty diligent about their health and getting regular blood work done, are now too afraid to go to get a blood test done.
This is terrible news because you might not be able to catch certain illnesses before their grip on the body becomes too tenacious.
Many Blood Testing Centers Separate COVID and Non-COVID Testing
The great news is that certain blood labs will separate blood testing related to COVID and non-COVID testing.
This is good news because if you are fearful of getting infected with COVID when you go in for a blood test, you can rest assured.
This is also important because the teams handling COVID testing are kept separate and isolated from those handling non-COVID testing. You don’t have anything to fear at this point.
Hopefully, this will mean that more people will start doing preventative blood testing again, and not let the fear of getting COVID to hold them back from their regular medical checkups.
Three Ways Blood Testing Is Changing During Coronavirus Times
The innovative nature of humanity shows through again as many blood labs, and hospitals start bringing in new measures to take care of blood testing.
This means that if you are afraid of stepping into a hospital or clinic to get your blood tested, you don’t have to worry about that anymore!
Drive-Through Blood Testing
As blood testing centers realized people are comfortable sitting in their car and getting tested, drive-through testing clinics are on the rise. This has revolutionized sample collecting.
This is great news for you because you don’t need to worry about stepping into a hospital or clinic, to get your blood work done.
Of course, this began because a lot of COVID blood testing was being done through drive-thrus or walk-through testing booth structures like in Korea.
It was only time before they translated over to regular blood testing as well. Blood labs in Australia are taking this on with gumption. Queensland’s pathology business QML being the pioneer in the matter.
Not only does it reduce the risk of contamination or spread of infection, but it’s highly efficient as well. It’s quite popular with people, who are more likely to get a blood test done if it’s in one of these drive-thru formats.
Telemedicine
As stay-at-home and quarantine orders become more ubiquitous, people are less inclined to venture outside of their house, especially not to go to a hospital or a clinic where the risk of contracting COVID might be higher.
The use of Telemedicine has seen a huge increase over the past few months, which means that a lot of physicians are using Telemedicine to track their patient’s health.
Of course, there’s no perfect substitute for going into your doctor’s office and getting a full physical check-up done.
But with Telemedicine, your doctor can ask you a series of questions to determine whether you need to come for a face-to-face. This is better than nothing, especially during such tumultuous times as we are all in.
At-Home Testing
This is highly innovative as well. You are sent a blood testing kit at home, and you can take your blood samples anywhere.
If you are fearful of using needles on your own, do not fear. These blood testing kits use lancets, which are small pinpricks to do the job. Everything you might need to do the job properly will be sent to you in the kit.
Once you take your blood sample, all you need to do is package the sample up in the pre-paid envelope and mail it back to the blood lab.
Depending on what is being assessed, you would need to take one or two sample tubes. Easy-peasy.
As Times Change, Blood Testing Changes With Them
As you can see above, there are many different ways in which the blood-testing industry is changing rapidly to keep up with the demands of the consumer. Times are changing fast, and blood testing will have to keep up.
The main thing to remember is not to forego getting a blood test done for preventative measures because you are worried about the Coronavirus pandemic. That would be a foolish mistake indeed.
A Proper Medical Checkup Includes Blood Work, Even During COVID Times
Blood testing isn’t going away any time soon. No matter what the time dictates, blood work is a crucial part of a proper medical checkup.
If you are interested in getting your blood work done, then Precious Labs is second to none. Check out our blood testing services today!