The race to make coronavirus testing as easy as a pregnancy test

Despite having more coronavirus cases than any other country, America has a testing rate below several countries that have lower per-capita rates of the virus.

The slow rollout of testing has crippled us from making more progress and opening up the economy, says Ryan Demmer of the division of epidemiology and community health at the University of Minnesota.

While testing for active infections has much improved since March, tests are still in short supply in some areas around the country. And where tests are readily attainable, results can still take several days.

Now numerous companies are racing to develop rapid at-home tests. Rather than requiring advanced lab equipment for processing, as current tests do, these new ones would use a sample collected at home and, like a pregnancy test, give you a simple positive or negative in less than an hour.

If these rapid tests prove to be accurate, affordable, and easy to manufacture, they could allow many more Americans to test themselves, even on a regular basis. This could be a huge asset in the fight against the coronavirus, which continues to spread in the US and take thousands of lives a week.

“These tools are urgently needed,” says Amanda Castel, a doctor, and professor of epidemiology at the Milken Institute School of Public Health at George Washington University.

And for the SARS-CoV-2 virus, which causes Covid-19, testing is particularly important, Demmer says, “because a lot of the transmission happens from asymptomatic people or presymptomatic people” people who don’t have any signs of the virus. In fact, people seem to be most infectious just before they start to have symptoms.

Comments

Ravians Creativity - The Last Follower

Wait! Wait! Wait! Are you a Harry Potter Fan?? Have you heard about The Last Follower and The Resurrection of Voldemort?? If no, then I have good news for Harry Potter Fans that the Khayaali Production whose members belong to GC University, Lahore has made a Harry Potter Fan made a film at GC University, Lahore. It is considered that the GCU, Lahore is the Hogwarts of Pakistan. So, Ravians show their creativity in its beautiful architecture. The whole team put a lot of effort to make this film successful. Its trailer has been released on the YouTube channel of Khayaali Production . So, go and watch The Last Follower trailer and don't forget to subscribe to their channels. The trailer was so loved by the audience that it got a million views in just 24 hours. Now that’s a number that tells how excellent people are in love with this production team. You can check out the trailer as well here: I always say that when you want t...

Short Courses Institutions Should Be Banned In the Lockdown

The Coronavirus has discarded all the academic activities for the students as well as for the educational institutions. Before the lockdown, students were busy in gaining knowledge in different institutions, like schools, universities, colleges, and training institutions. Well, I am not against these institutions, but on the other side, private training institutions are running their business by charging high fees from students but not giving the knowledge they want. This mafia brainwashes the students and asks them to go against the universities and colleges, which is unethical. The universities and colleges are very important for every person because they help the students groom physically, spiritually, and mentally. There is no comparison with the private training institutions mafia. On the other hand, private training mafia-like PNY Group of Companies, NexSkill, ZAFF Institute, EVS Institute , etc are playing with students' lives. Okay, I don't talk about what he...

GCU-ACM Student Chapter Brings You Design And Sell 1.0

The ACM Student Chapter of Government College University , Lahore , has taken many initiatives to make sure that they don't just teach but educate their students. GCU-ACM Student Chapter composed of hard-working students, which conduct many events to provide the students with the knowledge they need about their career, the skills they need and to broaden their perspectives. One such initiative taken up by them was the seminar they had conducted recently on Graphic Design. Design and Sell 1. 0 had Ms. Rabia Abbas as their esteemed speaker. She is one an ambitious young woman, who had started her journey as a creative designer at and then proceeded to find her path as a freelancer on sites like Freelancer, Elance, and ODesk. She is a successful young entrepreneur and specializes in graphic design. She was given the title of a ‘Preferred Freelancer’ on freelancing.com. She believes that our fresh graduates lack practical knowledge and need to be aware of the m...

GeekDirector

Search This Blog