Widespread testing is essential to engage the epidemic as the United States approaches a gigantic five million infections and more than 1 to 7,000 deaths of more than 700,000 worldwide.
The number of infections shown in the United States exceeded 4.7 million, with new inconsistent instances with approximately 60,000 consistent with the day on average, to more than 70,000 at the time of July.
Demand for testing is expected to increase this fall, when schools reopen and flu season begins, the maximum is likely to exceed materials and lead to additional delays and bottlenecks.
Part of the drop in testing in the last expected weeks after expired advertising labs suggested that doctors focus on the maximum risk of their patients. But some fitness officials and government officials see the development of public frustration and declining demand.
U.S. controls They are mainly based on very delicate molecular controls that stumble upon the genetic code of the coronavirus. Although control is seen as the benchmark for accuracy, experts increasingly say that the country’s overburdened lab formula cannot keep up with the epidemic and produce effects in two or 3 days, the time to isolate patients and engage the virus.
“They’re doing the most productive task possible, but the existing formula might not allow them to meet the demand,” said Mara Aspinall of Arizona State University’s School of Health Solutions.
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Test delays have led researchers at Harvard and elsewhere to propose a new antigenic testing technique, an immediate generation already used to detect influenza, strep pharyngotics and other non-unusual infections. Instead of detecting the virus itself, these tests look for viral proteins or antigens, which are sometimes considered a less accurate measure of infection.
Several companies perform COVID-19 antigen tests that spit on a specially coated strip of paper and, if infected, adjust the color. Experts say the speed and widespread availability of these tests would more than offset their lower accuracy.
Although there is no such control for coronavirus in the US market, experts say that the generation is undeniable and that the barriers are more regulatory than technical. Harvard researchers say production can temporarily succeed in millions.
A proposal from Harvard researchers calls on the federal government to distribute saliva-based antigen controls of $1 to all Americans so that they can control themselves regularly, even on a daily basis.
Even with accuracy as low as 50%, the researchers estimate that paper strip tests would reveal five times as many CASES of COVID-19 than the existing lab-based approach, which the federal government says detects one in 10 infections.
But it faces resistance in Washington, where federal regulators have demanded at least 80% accuracy for new COVID-19 tests.
To date, the Food and Drug Administration has allowed two COVID-19 antigen tests to enter the market. These tests require a nasal pattern supervised by a fitness professional and can be performed on specialized machines found in hospitals, medical offices, and clinics.
In addition, due to the threat of false negatives, doctors may want to verify a negative result with a genetic control when patients have imaginable symptoms of COVID-19.
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On Tuesday, the governors of Maryland, Virginia, Louisiana and three other states announced an agreement with the Rockefeller Foundation to purchase more than 3 million of the FDA-cleared antigen tests, underscoring the growing interest in the technology.
When asked about introducing cheaper, paper-based tests, the government’s “testing czar,” Adm. Brett Giroir, warned that their accuracy could fall as low as 20% to 30%.
“I don’t think it’s any favor to the American public to have something that doesn’t happen seven out of ten times,” Giroir said last week. “I think it can be catastrophic.”
The Associated Press contributed to this report.