Chapala and Jocotepec were among 12 municipalities in the interior of the state where Jalisco’s Ministry of Health (SSJ) sent personnel this week to offer free tests for the SARS-CoV-2 virus.
The local testing campaigns were held Tuesday, August 24 in Jocotepec and the following day in Chapala, with portable modules set up from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. on the towns’ central plazas. Each site was equipped with 200 rapid antigen test kits. This type of testing is most effective when applied within the first seven days of experiencing respiratory ailments and other suspicious symptoms of Covid-19 such as fever, headache, coughing, chest pain, sore throat or running nose.
After using long swabs to collect samples from the nasopharynx, medical staff processed the tests, providing results within 20 to 30 minutes.
Although complete results were not available at press time, it was reported that approximately 25 percent of the first 100 pruebas applied in Jocotepec came out positive for Covid-19. The incidence of infection was minimal during the early hours of testing in Chapala, according to the municipality’s Medical Director Enrique Gutiérrez.