Member Info for Blownitalready

Part 1

At first blush, you might reasonably dismiss the rapid, saliva-based antigen assay for coronavirus. What possible purpose can a test serve in a pandemic if it misses, say, 30 of every 100 infections it encounters, leaving those cases undetected, untreated, and uncontained? What good is a test that creates that much false reassurance and causes exactly the wrong people to relax their adherence to social distancing? Who would even think of using such a test in a hospital setting, where a false negative result might imperil the safety of health care workers?

You wouldn’t be alone. The failure of the antigen-based assay to match the diagnostic accuracy of the gold-standard test you are probably familiar with—the laboratory based, reverse-transcription polymerase chain reaction (PCR) nasal (or nasopharyngeal) swab—is why the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has been reluctant to approve it for sale in the U.S.

But what if we re-framed the narrative? What if we instead asked what possible prevention purpose a PCR test can serve in a pandemic if it returns positive results in people who have already cleared the virus and pose no risk of further transmission? What good is a PCR test that identifies non-infectious individuals as candidates for isolation and quarantine? Who would even think of using PCR for outbreak containment if it sends up so many false alarms, leading contact tracers on so many wild goose chases, and undermining public confidence in the role of testing to keep us safe?

The rapid, saliva-based antigen test has gotten a bad rap. It is the better, preferred tool for outbreak control. Here’s why:

Infected ? Infectious
When you go to the grocery store, eat in a restaurant or play pick-up basketball, the person you are trying to avoid is the person who might transmit the virus to you during that activity. While all spreaders are infected with the SARS-CoV-2 virus, not all persons infected with SARS-CoV-2 are spreaders. Not everyone who has detectable levels of SARS-CoV-2 virus in their airways is shedding virus in sufficient quantity to pose a transmission risk to others. When it comes to preventing the spread of the virus and containing outbreaks, it’s the infectious people you want to identify and isolate.

https://twitter.com/chrisSCFC1863/status/1304446279255314432?s=20

Hope that Avacta can provide a test for Corona AND flu in one !

https://edition.cnn.com/2020/09/11/health/covid-flu-together-health-impact/index.html

Avacta mentioned on the trial

https://www.gov.uk/government/news/new-saliva-test-for-coronavirus-piloted-in-southampton

Background information

https://www.hampshirechronicle.co.uk/news/18695700.trials-rapid-coronavirus-testing-hampshire-expanded/

Background information (June)

https://www.theguardian.com/world/2020/jun/22/coronavirus-spit-test-to-be-trialled-in-southampton

Background information -

http://www.southampton.gov.uk/coronavirus-covid19/testing/

Background information
Initially the Salford initiative will aim to process up to 250 tests a day.
Almost 10,000 people took part in the first phase of the Southampton pilot, where GP staff, other essential key workers, university employees and members of their households were delivered tests to their home or place of work and completed tests by putting their saliva in a pot. The pilot showed the at-home saliva sampling kit to be a reliable means of testing for large-scale, regular testing.
5,000 DNA ‘Nudgebox’ machines, supplied by DnaNudge, to be rolled out across NHS Hospitals in the UK to analyse DNA in nose swabs, providing a positive or negative result for COVID-19 in 90 minutes, at the point of care.
New rapid LamPORE tests, processing swab and saliva samples to detect the presence of COVID-19 in 60 to 90 minutes.

Good to know that saliva works so well according to lord bethel.

Super excited now.....

Sorry no link....it was just shown on BBC / parliament. Minutes ago

Government.....saliva test results in Southamptonare showing incredibly low errors

https://blogs.jwatch.org/hiv-id-observations/index.php/relieving-the-covid-19-testing-logjam-by-separating-the-symptomatic-from-asymptomatic/2020/09/07/?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed:+HivAndIdObservations+(HIV+and+ID+Observations:+A+Journal+Watch+Blog

Trial expected completion May 2021

https://clinicaltrials.gov/ct2/show/record/NCT04324606?recrs=dh&type=Intr&cond=%22Coronaviridae+Infections%22&draw=5&rank=6

Davit Kezerashvili, the owner and co-founder of Formula TV, is responding to the Georgian Dream with a statement after the accusations aired on Imedi TV. He posted the letter on facebook.

"Yesterday, September 8, propaganda Torpedo , Imedi, in their style, for me the mud of gunfire and dirty attacks another cascade offered. Georgian Dream 's mouthpiece special programs dedicated to all those sucked from the finger of the charge to raise the arguments repeatedly confirmed several trials, including Between - Great Britain, France and Israel.

I clearly realize that all this propaganda filth relates to the side of my work that is related to my political preferences and support for free media.

Georgian Dream and Bidzina Ivanishvili did their best to gain a monopoly in the media sphere and suppress government-independent media - criminal cases and political persecution have hit TV Formula, the founders of the Main Channel, TV First, Adjara Public Broadcaster, Rustavi 2, and Rustavi 2.

Every effort is being made to cut free media funding sources. Nevertheless, we are evolving and we are not going to leave the TV space as a zombie weapon of our citizens to the government like Russia and Belarus.

As a counterweight to Imedi and other propaganda "dirt machines", free media outlets exist and will exist. The closer October 31, 2020, the day of the change of government through elections, gets, the more dirt will be spilled on the airwaves of Imedi and other government mouthpieces .

Because of this, we will not change our position , no one can intimidate us and no one can control the editorial policy of free media . "I believe that free speech is in the public interest and, therefore, we remain the guardian of the public interest and not the government," Kezerashvili wrote on Facebook.

https://formulanews.ge/News/36457 (google translated)

Part 2

Echoing other officials' claims, the report from the team of experts says more testing is vital.
"At present infection rates, a basic screening strategy will require approximately 200 million tests each month for students and staff at the nation's primary and secondary schools and residents and staff at nursing homes for them to open safely and in stages," the team wrote.
But things could turn around. Testing capacity is improving and companies are working to develop fast and cheap on-the-spot tests that -- if distributed widely enough --- could make a difference, the report says.
"By October 2020, based on recent and announced expected market entry, point-of-care tests will rise to at least 70 million tests per month," the team wrote.
By January, the US could reach nearly 200 million tests monthly. And more growth is possible, the experts said.
So far, more than 6.3 million cases have been reported across the US and more than 189,000 people have died, according to Johns Hopkins University.

(CNN)The US should be performing as many as 200 million Covid-19 tests every month well into next year to have any chance of controlling the pandemic, experts say in a new report.

That number is far beyond the country's current capacity, according to the report released Wednesday by the Rockefeller Foundation and the Duke-Margolis Center for Health Policy.
"The U.S. will likely need very large numbers of all types of Covid-19 tests well into 2021 to contain outbreaks while returning toward normal activity, with a particular need for more screening tests that have very fast turnaround times," the report reads.
Public health experts across the country have for months said testing will play a critical role in helping to reel in the pandemic. Getting enough people tested -- and getting their results back quickly -- will aid contact tracers in tracking down Americans exposed to the virus and help control outbreaks.

Fewer than 30 million tests are currently reported monthly in the country, the report says. As the virus ran unabated across American communities over the summer, some officials said contact tracing was nearly impossible with the lack of testing capacity and the uncontrolled spread.
Adm. Brett Giroir, the testing lead for the White House Coronavirus Task Force, has said repeatedly the US cannot test its way out of the pandemic.

https://edition.cnn.com/2020/09/09/health/us-coronavirus-wednesday/index.html

Love the analogies Ophidian, keep them coming....it makes my day :0)

Little video from Abingdon to enlighten any newcomers :-

https://www.abingdonhealth.com/videos/lateral-flow-assay-tech-transfer-scale/

Pretty sure that this will be used once we start selling,....

https://www.abingdonhealth.com/contract-services/lateral-flow-reader/appdx/

17 mins into the video interview