Not sure I should post this here, but thought this was interesting
FDA authorizes first at-home, rapid Covid-19 self-testing kit Editorial: According to the product’s instructions, Lucira’s LAMP test was able to accurately detect 94.1% of the infections found by a well -established PCR-based test. It also correctly identified 98% of the healthy, uninfected people. The packaging for the test notes that it “has not been evaluated” in asympt omatic people. The test raises concerns about the reporting process, which would need to include communications between patients and their healthcare providers, then a follow -up between those health care providers and public health officials. Source: New York Times The FDA issued an emergency use authorization to the first rapid coronavirus test that can be run from start to finish at home. The test, developed by California-based Lucira Health, requires a prescription from a healthcare provider. People under the age of 14 cannot perform the test on themselves. With a relatively simple nasal swab, the test can return results in about half an hour. Test is projected to cost $50 or less. Clinicians can also run the test on their patients, including children younger than 14. This would allow results to be discussed during a single visit to a care center or pharmacy instead of routing a sample through a lab. Other tests have received emergency use authorization, but this is the first one that does not require samples to be sent to a lab. People taking the battery-powered test must swirl a swab in both nostrils, then dip and stir the swab into a vial of chemicals. That vial is then plugged into a test cartridge that processes the sample, and within a half-hour the test cartridge will light up as “positive” or “negative.”