COVID-19 Rapid Testing Kits.

mccardey

Self-Ban
Kind Benefactor
Super Member
Registered
Joined
Feb 10, 2010
Messages
19,213
Reaction score
15,824
Location
Australia.
This could be good news.
Australian regulators have urgently approved rapid Covid-19 testing kits that allow doctors to screen patients for the virus within 15 minutes at clinics and hospitals.After the Guardian revealed last week that a number of companies were seeking to supply a rapid testing kit for the virus into the Australian market, the Therapeutic Goods Administration has granted four approvals to companies to sell the product locally.
The approvals allow the first “point of care” Covid-19 screening products to be supplied in Australia, and could allow doctors to significantly increase the number of people able to be tested for the virus.

Or, as this article says, it might not be.
“I think that’s the case with a lot of the things that we’ll see coming onto the market. There’s uncertainty because it didn’t come to market after stringent testing, it came to the market because there’s a feeling of ‘my god we need it’.
“In normal circumstances you wouldn’t touch it with a barge pole but this is what happens when there’s a crisis.”

But -
Peter White, a virologist from the University of New South Wales, said if it were possible for rapid tests to be used by people at home it would help take the burden off an already strained health system.

“These tests will be useful for sure, they could keep infected people out of the health system and they do also provide peace of mind,” he said.
“There are certainly some advantages. If someone thinks they have the virus and can do the test at home in 15 minutes that’s someone who isn’t presenting at a hospital, GP or pathology lab.
“Even if you received a false positive, if you were able to take the precaution of having it backed up with [a traditional test] it would be good. If people received a negative result, they might be less inclined to visit the clinic which is going to free up hospital resources.”
But, he stressed, the tests were not always as reliable as those currently being used in Australia. Because rapid test kits look for antibodies associated with the virus rather than the virus itself, they could record false-negatives if used at the wrong time.
So hey! Maybe some good news!

Brought to you from Australia, the Land of Unclear Messaging
 
Last edited:

Snitchcat

Dragon-kitty.
Super Member
Registered
Joined
Jul 2, 2006
Messages
6,344
Reaction score
975
Location
o,0
So.... good news but with a large side of caution.

I'll take that. :)