Failing the Coronavirus-Testing Test

[Texacon]

https://democraticunderground.com/100213857301

blaze (3,990 posts)


Failing the Coronavirus-Testing Test

“We need to change the whole script of what it means to test people,” he says. “In our country, we have always assumed that testing belongs in the clinical sphere, in the diagnostic sphere, and has to be run by laboratories or diagnosticians. The result is that we have a system for coronavirus testing…which is flailing, with raging outbreaks occurring.” What the country needs instead are rapid tests, widely deployed, so that infectious individuals can be readily self-identified and isolated, breaking the chain of transmission.

To do that, Mina says, everyone must be tested, every couple of days, with $1, paper-based, at-home tests that are as easy to distribute and use as a pregnancy test: wake up in the morning, add saliva or nasal mucous to a tube of chemicals, wait 15 minutes, then dip a paper strip in the tube, and read the results. Such tests are feasible—a tiny company called E25Bio, and another called Sherlock Biosciences (a start-up spun out of Harvard’s Wyss Institute for Biologically Inspired Engineering and the Broad Institute in 2019) can deliver such tests—but they have not made it to the marketplace because their sensitivity is being compared to that of PCR tests.

https://harvardmagazine.com/2020/08/covid-19-test-for-public-health

Baitball Blogger (35,606 posts)

1. I admit I haven't gone for a test because I don't want someone who may have

had an hour of training to stick a swab up my nostrils.

So, yeah, home tests would work for me.

Science denier

TreasonousBastard (35,447 posts)

2. Makes sense-- first line of defense and all. And everyone should own a thermometer...

But, that brings up, ummm...

Anyone tested those pregnancy testers in Dollar Tree? The ones right next to the marijuana tests. Seem like jokes to me.

Any women (or boyfriends...) here who would actually use one of those?

WTF?!  LOL

Nictuku (2,062 posts)

3. I am terrified.... I have to go to the dentist today

I didn't realize it until I had to face the decisions that I can't put this off. I have to go.

The thought of someone in my face like that, who has been in the face of other people (without masks... can't wear a mask when getting dental work obviously)... it is freaking me out.

I have COPD and Lupus. I live with a 79 year old mom who is diabetic. We have been VERY careful. I work at home and go to the store once every 2-3 weeks.

I know they will be masked. I know I will be able to wait in the car until it is my turn. They have updated their A/C and filters. I'm still freaked out. And it is all about the testing.

Even if they were tested, you don't get the results for a week or more.

I'm angry about the lack of testing. There is no way this economy will ever recover unless and until the public has confidence that they are not going to catch their death when they go about their lives.

Relax snowflake!  Remember, they are wearing a mask for YOUR protection ... or do you not believe your own sides bullshit?

 

KC

[Mary Ann]

I went to the dentist on Monday. The hygienist wore TWO masks and a face shield. I had absolute confidence that everything would be fine.

[SVPete]

I went to the dentist on Monday. The hygienist wore TWO masks and a face shield. I had absolute confidence that everything would be fine.

There's also a mini-ritual that patients are led through before they sit in the chair. But if you don't know all that and don't trust your dentist/hygienist to have 1/10 of a functioning brain ...

As for at-home, "instant" results, tests the FDA has guidelines for the development and approval of such tests, but they are not trivial, and IIRC, the allowable false-_____ rate is not insignificant (because users and test environments are imperfect). Such a product is desirable, but not as a replacement for professional lab testing, and developing/producing such a test is not as simple/easy as DUpipo want to believe.