Causing severe respiratory issues and quickly evolving into life-threatening conditions, COVID-19 still represents a massive threat. Therefore, developing a solution that will invite opportunities for creating tools for early diagnosis of COVID-19 in patients is likely to save numerous lives. Although the application of Ct values to the design of a vaccine against the coronavirus entails certain challenges, the specified approach has a notable potential due to the chance to culture SARS samples. Indeed, studies show that the integration of Ct values as the surrogate members that will allow determining the extent of people’s infectivity will guide the process of diagnosing COVID-19 effectively (Dahbouh et al., 2021). Specifically, Dahbouh et al. (2021) state that the use of Ct values should be considered specifically due to their property of helping identify the number of cycles after which the coronavirus is likely to have no effect or contagious potential for vulnerable populations (Dahbouh et al., 2021). Creating ample opportunities for detecting the extent of patients’ infectivity, the Ct value allows for determining the possibility of a patient being infected with the coronavirus. Specifically, with the Ct value being below 35, the threat of the COVID-19 infection must be considered seriously, with the necessary interventions applied. Consequently, the integration of the Ct value as a measure for detecting instances of COVID-19 must be considered essential. Arguably, certain objections against the specified tool have been raised. For example, Dahbouh et al. (2021) mention that the current knowledge gap concerning the number of SARS various for causing the development of the disease is likely to hamper the process. Nevertheless, the Ct value use is vital to detecting COVID-19 incidents, as well as developing precautionary measures against them.
Reference
Dahdouh, E., Lázaro-Perona, F., Romero-Gómez, M. P., Mingorance, J., & García-Rodriguez, J. (2021). Ct values from SARS-CoV-2 diagnostic PCR assays should not be used as direct estimates of viral load. Journal of Infection, 82(3), 414-451. Web.