Don’t look up! Why the pandemic has taught us that being prepared is more important than ever

The Netflix film “Don’t look up”, shares a disturbing parallel with real life. Political narrative and healthcare don’t necessarily mix. A quick look at the data shows that COVID-19 is not just a “winter virus”. Peaks between waves have established a fairly constant 12-week pattern. Intriguingly, this time frame echoes the period over which COVID-19 immunity can wane too low. As the narrative relaxes behaviours, apathy becomes the greatest ally to transmission and disease. Sickness costs UK companies millions in absenteeism, however business owners who take simple measures could reduce that impact, gaining a competitive advantage. – Healthier staff.

Although there’s a wishful inclination to speak of the pandemic in the past tense, it quietly continues to echo throughout our daily lives. Few trust test results, reducing testing data - hiding the reality. However, hospitalisation numbers aren’t debatable. Since June, daily hospital admissions for COVID-19 consistently increased.

With access to private vaccination unavailable until next year, absenteeism within businesses and the healthcare system is inevitable. Otherwise healthy employees with immunities too weak to resist common viral loads, will become unwitting vectors of transmission to their colleagues.

Ideally, boosters would be offered to anyone proven clinically vulnerable to infection. However, compounding the issue, this winter, we face a new situation. Widespread indifference to contracting and passing on COVID-19, coincides with millions of under 65’s not being offered boosters, but equally left unaware of how low immunities have fallen. Those offered a booster aren’t sure if they need it, so risk infection - whilst they decide.

Can you test to check your immunity has fallen too low, and a booster is due?

Yes. Midlands biotech - Bio-Diagnostics’ unique research solved the COVID-19 enigma, offering the solution to PHE and UK government in March 2020, a month before the first wave peaked.

Since 1979 Bio-Diagnostics has supplied immunology departments throughout the NHS. This specialist expertise resulted in the development its latest technology – The BioCard™ an immunity test for COVID-19.

The COVID-19 BioCard™ enables simple monitoring of immunity levels,measurements revealing when the risk of infection heightens. Basic strategies can then be employed to reduce business impact and absenteeism.

How accurate is the COVID-19 BioCard™?

CE marked in 2020 >99.5% accurate. The Covid-19 BioCard™ was independently confirmed by UKHSA as being 99.5% specific. Specificity is critical, because it reflects how precisely the test exclusively detects Covid-19 antibodies.

You don’t need an “Antibody test”, you need to test for the right antibodies… Accuracy isn’t enough, Covid-19 is different.

- So a technology designed precisely for it is needed.

The BioCard™ uniquely detects the key immune response to SARS-CoV-2. Crucially, it detects the same spike antibodies that vaccines elicit, - a year before most of the UK had been vaccinated.

Strange to realise now, but throughout 2020, NHS labs weren’t testing for spike antibodies, concentrating on nonspecific ones associated with the common cold.

Access to accurate immunity monitoring could have significantly mitigated the impact of initial waves. Tragically, the “Game Changing” COVID-19 BioCard™ wasn’t utilised, and government efforts to replicate the test, so desperately needed - failed.

Today, repeat infections seem an acceptable alternative to vaccination, despite our limited understanding of the long-term consequences in 20 years.

Once limited to death and taxes, life’s certainties now include persistent COVID-19 infections, - unless timely vaccines break the transmission cycle.

Making the perfect test.

Boosters and infection generate “Spike” antibodies targeting Covid-19. To detect longer-term immunity (without interference from short-term antibodies), you need a matching test.

Having “antibodies” means nothing. Immunity wanes, so you need immediate results from a test that reveals their concentration.

Only one test unites all these factors, with results in 3 minutes. - The COVID-19 BioCard™.

Rolling the dice whilst enjoying the “new normal”. But who will succumb next?

By looking for just the right markers of longer-term immunity, a pattern clearly emerged. Monitoring individuals over time, revealed spike-specific antibodies reducing - as immunity waned. When exposed to an overwhelming viral load, infection follows.

However, when immunity (AKA resistance to infection) is strongly maintained, infection becomes less likely.

When the significance is understood, the key to immunity, and ending the pandemic, begins by monitoring spike antibodies on the COVID-19 BioCard™.

Reporting your individual level of immunity, BioCard™ uses a simple 0-10 scale. Monitoring reveals when vulnerability to infection heightens, optimising booster timing to when it’s needed.

This isn’t a new strategy either, full details were given May 2021 to the Westminster Policy Forum chaired by Sir Bernard Jenkin MP. Simply put, the BioCard™ makes imperfect vaccine outcomes perfect. Optimising boosters timing based on clinical evidence, not arbitrary date or age, extends periods of strong immunity – at reduced cost. (In every sense). When efficiently maintained nationally, infection rates reduce, breaking the chain of transmissions, reducing hospitalisations.

By monitoring one person at a time, we can begin “living without COVID”. Private individuals and businesses are able to access our service via everytest.co.uk.

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