Over the weekend, the government ramped up its pleas for West Australians to get tested for COVID-19 in a big way.
They've been asking people to do it for a while but have been pushing for it even harder in recent days.
In part, it's because there are still relatively few people getting tested, with only 4,743 swabs taken on Saturday.
"These testing numbers are not high enough," was Health Minister Amber-Jade Sanderson's response yesterday.
"The better the testing numbers, the more confidence we have that positive cases are accounted for and they are in quarantine."
And that push became even more urgent when WA recorded 24 local cases on Sunday – a big jump from the single-digit case numbers we've seen recently.
When should I get tested?
The advice from health authorities is clear.
If you've been to an exposure site during an exposure time, you should go and get tested.
The list is constantly growing, and you can find the latest sites on the HealthyWA website.
But even if you haven't been to an exposure location, you should still go and get tested if you've got symptoms.
"There is Omicron in our community," Ms Sanderson reminded West Australians yesterday.
"This is serious, and high levels of testing and quarantine is our best chance to minimise the spread and attempt to manage this outbreak."
What symptoms should I be looking out for?
According to Tim Spector, a professor of genetic epidemiology from King's College in London, COVID-19 symptoms for Omicron are largely the same as with Delta.
"It's causing symptoms that are much more like a regular cold, particularly in people who've been vaccinated, and fewer general systemic symptoms, such as nausea, muscle pains, diarrhoea and skin rashes" he wrote in The Conversation.
WA Health says the main symptoms to look out for are:
- a fever over 37.5 degrees Celsius
- a cough
- shortness of breath
- sore throat
- runny nose
- acute loss of smell or taste.
Other symptoms might include:
- sneezing
- fatigue
- muscle aches and pains
- headache
- red or irritated eyes
- vomiting
- diarrhoea
- skin rash
- discolouration of fingers or toes.
Where can I get tested?
The HealthyWA website has a full list of all testing clinics across the state.
Testing at private clinics is also available free of charge for people who have been told to get tested by WA Health, or who have been at an exposure site.
Some clinics are offering drive-through tests if you don't want to wait outside.
Many are also open with extended hours and extra capacity at the moment.
What happens after I get tested?
In every case after you get tested, you'll have to isolate at least until you return a negative result.
But if you've been to a higher risk exposure site, WA Health might tell you to keep isolating until 14 days after your last exposure.
If you can't work from home, or have other plans, that can be a big ask.
But Ms Sanderson said she didn't believe that was reducing the number of people getting tested significantly.
"I think that by and large people do the right thing, I think people are probably busy," she said.
"I think they've heard a lot about COVID over the last few weeks, and they're not necessarily paying attention."
Why the sudden focus on testing?
In recent days, authorities have struggled to link some cases to existing clusters.
And while all mystery cases have now been traced back to their origin, the sudden jump in cases will likely have authorities concerned there are many others lingering undetected.
University of WA School of Population and Global Health lecturer Barbara Nattabi said testing and tracing outbreaks remained important in WA, even at this stage of the pandemic.
"This is a respiratory disease, so we must know who has been in close contact with another in order to know who has possibly been infected," she said.
It remains a critical step in trying to limit the spread of Omicron in WA as much as possible – one of the key reasons Premier Mark McGowan gave for indefinitely delaying the opening of the state's borders.
When will all of this start to change?
By all indications, WA looks set to continue with its current approach for as long as it can manage.
That includes asking as many people as possible to get PCR tests, and publishing exposure sites online.
Ms Sanderson said that would only change if those systems started to buckle under the strain of huge case numbers.
"That's when you get into the hundreds and thousands of cases," she said.
"At the moment, we certainly have good contact tracing capacity, testing and quarantine.
"While we have that we will use it, because that is the best way that we can get this under control."
Should I use a rapid antigen test?
While you can now legally buy rapid antigen tests in WA, the advice is that PCR testing should still be our focus.
Australian Medical Association WA president Mark Duncan-Smith said their utility would come when we get much higher case numbers.
"The danger with a RAT, in our environment right now, is it's a high risk of a false negative. And what that could mean is you actually have COVID, but the test is negative and therefore you're out in the community spreading the disease," he explained.
But that is unlikely to be a problem for many, with supplies still limited.
