We built thousands and thousands of hospital beds that we don’t need. We built thousands and thousands of ventilators that we don’t need.
But we aren’t now pushing all these companies to build testing equipment and preparing personnel to do testing all over the country in mind blowing numbers.
All we are told is that we can’t do it.
I want President Trump to win in November but he is very lucky that I am not evil and running the Democratic party because I would pummel this issue as it could end this virus tomorrow. It’s very strange to me why these steps are not taking place.
It’s almost as if he doesn’t want to know...
He knows it was a bio weapon and therefore not a regular virus. And who knows if/when China along with whoever else helped this along might decide to get another version going, which might be worse.
That’s one issue.
You are not being told about the current testing what is coming:
Roche announced plans to launch its own COVID-19 antibody blood test early next month as a complement to its previous high-throughput test for active infections authorized by the FDA in March.
The company’s Elecsys Anti-SARS-CoV-2 serology test is designed to identify people who have previously been infected by the virus, especially those who may not have displayed symptoms, by detecting the body’s immune response to the infection.
“Every reliable test on the market serves its purpose for healthcare systems to help us overcome this pandemic,” CEO Severin Schwan said in a statement. “Roche is collaborating closely with health authorities and ramping up production to ensure fast availability of the test globally.”
The antibody diagnostic could also support screening of high-risk groups, such as healthcare and food supply workers, and potentially allow them to return to work with a measured immunity to the disease, according to the company.
Designed for Roche’s cobas analyzers, the blood test could also be used in epidemiological research to better track the global spread of the coronavirus. The fully-automated hardware can provide COVID-19 results in about 18 minutes and process up to 300 tests per hour with certain equipment.
“The antibody test is an important next step in the fight against COVID-19,” said Thomas Schinecker, CEO of Roche’s diagnostics division. “Roche’s antibody test can be quickly scaled and made broadly available around the world as our instrument infrastructure is already in place.”
The company said it is working with the FDA to secure an Emergency Use Authorization, though the agency is currently allowing developers to distribute validated serology tests ahead of official review.
Roche also plans to launch the test in European countries accepting the CE mark and said it is aiming for monthly production in the “high double-digit” millions by June.
RELATED: Roche begins shipping 400K coronavirus test kits per week in the U.S.
https://www.fiercebiotech.com/medtech/roche-to-launch-covid-19-antibody-blood-test-early-may
That system has been used by UC Davis for at least 4 weeks.
The same reliable test, S. Korea has been using has been available for about a 3-4 weeks in America at UC Davis, California
So what kind of games are being played at the testing level?
UC Davis Health speeds up COVID-19 testing [video]
Academic medical center in unique position to benefit patients in the Sacramento region
(SACRAMENTO) — Clinical pathologists, infectious disease physicians and scientists at UC Davis Health are collaborating on new reagents (substances used for chemical analysis), diagnostic tests and a vaccine for the COVID-19 coronavirus in hopes of preventing and ultimately treating the infection.
UC Davis Health’s Clinical Laboratory began internal testing March 19 with the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) assays (tests to determine presence of infectious agents) while, at the same time, developing high-throughput assays on the Roche Diagnostics cobas® 6800 System to meet an expected surge in cases. The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) granted “emergency-use authorization” to UC Davis’ test in mid-March.
This week, UC Davis Health Clinical Laboratory specialists developed the capacity to run as many as 200 tests a day. The commercial device has the capacity to perform more than 1,000 tests per day if the need arises.
Lydia Howell, professor and chair of the UC Davis Department of Pathology and Laboratory Medicine, and Nam Tran, associate professor of pathology and laboratory medicine and senior director of clinical pathology in charge of the COVID-19 testing at UC Davis Health, discuss the instruments, the testing and their implications for COVID-19.
Q: When did UC Davis Health acquire the Roche cobas 6800 system?
Howell: It was delivered in December. We had chiefly purchased it for oncology testing. We didn’t anticipate it was going to be used for this, yet there it was ready to go when this crisis came up.
Q: Describe the instrument and UC Davis Health’s strategy in putting it into operation.
UC Davis Health clinical lab scientists load the university’s newly installed Roche Diagnostics Cobas 6800 instrument for high-speed COVID-19 testing.
Tran: The Roche cobas 6800 is effectively a giant robot the size of an SUV. We knew we’d have to move with the flow of where the demand was then be able to scale, so we came up with a three-pronged approach:
The above tests and more tests are out there and more coming out on a regular basis.