我想扩大我的社交圈。我要先做冠状病毒检测吗?

我想扩大我的社交圈。我要先做冠状病毒检测吗?

Let's face it, if you've been staying home a lot, you're probably pretty tired of looking at the same faces. It feels like well past time to start seeing other people, to visit or host relatives and dear friends. So how can you do this without unknowingly spreading the virus or getting exposed?

让我们面对现实吧，如果你经常呆在家里，你可能已经厌倦了看着同样的面孔。感觉好像早就该去见别人了，去拜访或者招待亲戚朋友了。那么，如何才能做到这一点，而又不被不知不觉地传播病毒或暴露在病毒之下呢?

Recently my husband and I debated this when our son, who lives in another state, said he'd like to come home for a visit. He lives with roommates in a city with a high rate of infection, and he works in a restaurant. We thought of having him get a diagnostic test to find out if he is infected. That way, if he got back a negative test, our problems would be solved, right?

最近，住在另一个州的儿子说他想回家看看，于是我和丈夫就这个问题展开了辩论。他和室友住在一个感染率很高的城市，他在一家餐馆工作。我们想给他做个诊断测试看看他是否被感染了。这样的话，如果他的测试结果是阴性，我们的问题就解决了，对吧?

Well, when I called up a few infectious disease specialists to ask if this all made sense, I discovered that using a diagnostic test for the coronavirus this way can be problematic. Here's what I learned.

嗯，当我打电话给一些传染病专家询问这一切是否有意义时，我发现用这种方法对冠状病毒进行诊断测试可能会有问题。以下是我学到的。

First, which test are we talking about?

首先，我们讨论的是哪个测试?

Currently the most commonly available test that can detect an active infection is the molecular or PCR test, typically collected via a swab in the nose or the back of the throat. These tests look for the virus's genetic material — and are highly sensitive. Another kind of diagnostic test is an antigen test that can detect the coronavirus's proteins — these are less sensitive, says Daniel Green, a pathologist at Columbia University Irving Medical Center, and can be less accurate.

目前最常用的检测活动性感染的检测方法是分子检测或PCR检测，通常通过鼻腔或咽喉后部的棉签采集。这些测试寻找病毒的遗传物质，并且高度敏感。哥伦比亚大学欧文医学中心的病理学家丹尼尔·格林说，另一种诊断测试是一种抗原测试，它可以检测出冠状病毒的蛋白质——这些蛋白质不太敏感，而且不太准确。

If I get a negative result on a PCR diagnostic test, can I be certain I won't infect someone I want to spend time with?

如果我的PCR诊断测试结果呈阴性，我能确定我不会感染我想要共度时光的人吗?

Like everything with this pandemic, the answer is complicated. The infectious disease experts I spoke to told me there are two reasons why testing might not be very helpful. The first has to do with the length of time it takes to get your test results back these days — up to a week or more in some places for PCR tests. By the time you get your results back, you could have unknowingly been exposed to the virus, making the original test irrelevant.

就像这场流行病的所有事情一样，答案是复杂的。与我交谈过的传染病专家告诉我，有两个原因说明检测可能没有很大帮助。第一个问题是这些天你要花多长时间才能把你的检测结果拿回来——在某些地方，PCR检测需要一周甚至更长时间。当你得到结果的时候，你可能已经在不知不觉中接触到了病毒，使得最初的测试变得无关紧要。

The next big reason has to do with accuracy. While the PCR test is highly accurate in a laboratory setting, out in the real world it can produce some false positives and a lot of false negatives. In fact studies show a negative diagnostic test result can be wrong between 5% and 40% of the time, depending on the circumstances.

下一个重要原因与准确性有关。虽然PCR测试在实验室环境下是高度准确的，但在现实世界中，它可能会产生一些假阳性和大量假阴性。事实上，研究表明，根据具体情况，阴性诊断测试结果出错的几率在5%到40%之间。

Wait, up to 40% false negative sounds like a lot — is there anything I can do to ensure my results are more reliable?

等等，高达40%的假阴性听起来很多——我能做什么来确保我的结果更可靠?

Yes, there are some things you can do. But first remember this, for many of us that false negative rate could be much lower than 40%, says Green, who was a coauthor on one of the studies about test reliability. He points out that many of the people in his study were sampled too early, before the diagnostic test could detect the presence of the virus.

是的，有些事你可以做。但首先要记住这一点，对我们很多人来说，假阴性率可能远低于40%，格林说，他是其中一项关于测试可靠性的研究的合著者。他指出,在他的研究中,许多人在诊断测试可以检测到病毒的存在之前已经过早地取样了。

So if you want to make sure your test is as reliable as possible, self-quarantine to avoid further exposures.

因此，如果你想确保你的测试是尽可能可靠的，自我隔离以避免进一步接触病毒。