Korea is doing drive-through testing with results available in three days. [1] That the US is still at the level of doing testing in a private and haphazard fashion is effectively criminal and seems likely to have a serious impact fairly soon. The US had a difficult time even testing all the workers at the nursing home in Washington where 11 people died.[2]<p>[1] <a href="https://news.sky.com/story/coronavirus-south-korea-uses-drive-thru-stations-to-test-for-covid-19-11950955" rel="nofollow">https://news.sky.com/story/coronavirus-south-korea-uses-driv...</a><p>[2] <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2020/03/07/us/coronavirus-nursing-home.html" rel="nofollow">https://www.nytimes.com/2020/03/07/us/coronavirus-nursing-ho...</a>
Low cost home testing kits can go beyond SARS-COV2 and track other diseases all from the safety of your home. Why go to the hospital where you could possibly be infected by other people with infectious diseases or infect the people around you.<p>Personally, if it is low cost enough that I don't need to use health insurance then I am all for it. Health insurance is good enough until surprise they don't want to cover you or you get surprise bills in the mail from the hospital.<p>Gates Foundation is absolutely forward thinking. I like it a lot.
This is really important, especially in countries where flu season is coming.<p>At the same time, I’ve been reading papers in top journals about various clever technologies to do rapid (ie <60 minutes) detection of pathogens for years. The latest was using crispr [1]. None of them seem to have left the lab, PCR is still it.<p>Final point, nanopore sequencers are ideal for rapid home testing, and you get the actual sequence. They are a bit too expensive unfortunately.<p><a href="https://nanoporetech.com/products/minion" rel="nofollow">https://nanoporetech.com/products/minion</a><p>[1] <a href="https://www.nature.com/articles/d41586-019-00601-3" rel="nofollow">https://www.nature.com/articles/d41586-019-00601-3</a>
We need some states to just start defying the CDC and doing whatever testing they deem necessary. With media backlash and sympathetic juries, no court case will actually succeed if the feds try to charge them with anything, and this is a life-or-death matter. Italy is a first world nation doing testing, and even they are swamped—what will we be in a week?
is anybody surprised?<p>availability seems not the be the problem, you can order them since 3 weeks ago from alibaba:
<a href="https://www.alibaba.com/trade/search?fsb=y&IndexArea=product_en&CatId=&SearchText=covid+19+test" rel="nofollow">https://www.alibaba.com/trade/search?fsb=y&IndexArea=product...</a><p>or, if you prefer from italy:
<a href="https://www.screenitalia.it/test-coronavirus-covid-19/" rel="nofollow">https://www.screenitalia.it/test-coronavirus-covid-19/</a><p>the problem here seems to be of an organisational nature...
Numerous articles about $4000 fees if test done at ER.<p><a href="https://www.commondreams.org/news/2020/03/02/why-are-we-being-charged-surprise-bills-coronavirus-testing-spark-calls-government" rel="nofollow">https://www.commondreams.org/news/2020/03/02/why-are-we-bein...</a><p>The new fed law and my state make the test itself free, but dont address the high service charge at some medical centers. Sick people might be reluctant to test as early as they should.
the irony is that if these are not already FDA-approved devices, then selling them (and even giving them, I think) to consumers will be illegal.<p>it seems clear that the regulations would be harming the public interest and should not be enforced, but you could imagine a scenario where there was a politician with a political grudge against a liberal city like Seattle.
Seattle's lucky to have a benefactor, though it may highlight yet again the stark differences between the have's (in this case a rich tech companies) and have not's - everyone else.
From what I’ve seen, a lot of the false negatives with these tests comes from the fact they require two swabs (nose and throat) that must be performed thoroughly/correctly in order to get a viable sample. I wonder how home testing will impact efficacy.
What’s the point of testing? There is no treatment. So knowing you have it or not is pointless. If you have it, and it’s serious, you’ll seek medical attention regardless of whether you know it or not.<p>When you see the ridiculous on hand sanitizer and toilet paper, even if there was an over the counter version, you wouldn’t be able to find one in the store.
If anything sets a bad precedent, citizens starting testing themselves and each other, what could possibly go wrong (sarcasm)...<p>Should we test for flu, cold as well? All other diseases? Should you only be allowed to be somewhere if you tested yourself within the last N hours ... etc .. because that is the next step, looking at each other with suspicion.<p>When did you last test yourself? Did you not test yourself? Why not? What are you hiding? What kind of citizen are you? Get back there and start testing yourself.<p>Are you going to test yourself every day? When you sneeze? In the morning, in the evening?<p>Stop living in fear. Nothing will happen to you.