There’s misinformation in Margot Swanson’s letter “Concord Hospital update” in last Sunday’s Monitor. She writes that she had to drive from Hancock to Concord Hospital to get a PCR test 2 days before her elective surgery. She implies that Dartmouth Health in Lebanon would do a same-day rapid test instead. She states that Concord’s policy is not supported by science. Testing for COVID before elective surgery is to make sure you’re not an asymptomatic carrier that could hurt you, medical staff and other patients. Rapid tests are not reliable in asymptomatic patients. PCR picks up the asymptomatic, is more sensitive and accurate, but takes a day to get back.
Canceling patients minutes before surgery due to a positive antigen test creates havoc in OR schedules and denies valuable OR time to patients on waiting lists. She also says that Dartmouth is a “state of the art medical facility” and implies they are right on this issue and Concord is not. In my opinion there are many examples over the years where the reverse has been true. Currently the COVID numbers at Concord Hospital are up. Over the last three years Concord has had far more COVID cases to deal with than Lebanon and has had longer waiting lists for surgery. Concord is just trying to do best by their patients and PCR testing two days in advance has been the safest, fairest and most scientific way to go.
Nick Perencevich
Concord