Remember a year ago when SarsCov2 was first announced, quick home antibody tests were being designed for mass production, and everybody was going to be able to test cheaply without a lab? CNN explains what happened... sort of.
Similar to inexpensive home pregnancy test kits, which have been available around the world for decades, these home antibody tests have been developed by dozens of companies for immediate distribution. Instantly knowing your current SarsCov2 status, without waiting hours in a lineup to have a swab inserted into your brain and sent away to lab, appeals to many. It would give the public a little bit more control over their scrambled lives. Mass testing could "keep outbreaks under control and be a way to control the pandemic", CNN quoted Dr. Jha (Brown University) as saying.
So where are the tests? Only two excuses are offered:
- Trump delayed them because he was trying to downplay the pandemic.
- The FDA prefers PCR tests because they are more sensitive.
Lots of other words, but no other excuses were given. Just a vague senes that Trump was partly to blame, and the real reason, the FDA doesn't approve them because they consider PCR tests to be the "gold standard" for sensitivity (in other words, because they produce more positives).
A few home test kits HAVE been approved, but they are more than $100 per use, and require the blood sample to be shipped away to a lab to be analyzed. Dozens of instant (and much cheaper) products have been brought to FDA for approval, but turned down by the gatekeeper.
Hope? (Nope)
A single test, which is both instantaneous and cheap, is finally being approved for home use in the USA. It's called Ellume, and the company says they use "digital technology at the core of our products" - the test strip connects via wireless Bluetooth to nearby Smart devices, allowing (requiring) instant connection with government health databases, social credit monitoring, contact tracking, forced isolation, etc.
In other words, it has taken a year to finally approve a single test, and it's going to snitch on you if you're positive.
Consider me unimpressed.
DRutter
