Is rapid testing the answer?

[AnxiousNoMore]

The tech isn't there yet, but some companies are hoping by year end to be able to create 5 minute tests that are highly accurate. If successful, applications include things like a stadium or workplace employer being able to do 3,000 tests per hour with the results available within 5 minutes on the person's phone. I read about one city in NA today where only 1/3 of people called by the contact tracers of a health authority because of a potential exposure even bothered to answer the message they received.

[copyman]

I agree the rapid tests are not accurate. If positive on rapid test I would get a blood draw for PCR test which is very accurate.

[AnxiousNoMore]

Here is a different test that is quick but obviously not smartphone enabled. I read a few articles about schools in other places who are starting to use this test and one said it had 98% accuracy.
Abbott DOESN'T have anything to do with this test either - there are many companies who are working on better testing systems. https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/british-columbia/covid-19-rinse-and-spit-test-school-aged-children-bc-1.5728927                                                    

[AnxiousNoMore]

Not sure how accurate this school spit test is because it is all media reporting and they don't have the time to research their articles and quotes from the health authorities. This link says it's not great unless you have high viral load. https://globalnews.ca/news/7359436/alberta-health-covid-19-saliva-tests/
Anyway the other tests I have read about, including my original post here, use different tech so we will see later if it works out.

[Marcia83]

It was stated that the rapid testing isn’t as accurate. That’s what they use around the president. One of those governors tested positive with rapid testing and did another test that they sent off and it came back negative.

[Paxiled]

Not to mention several people around the President also got tested and still turned out to have the virus.  But that's not the test Anxiousnomore is talking about, I think, he's talking about an even quicker test that is already in existence that tests saliva and returns an almost immediate result.  However, these tests, and Abbott is one of the manufacturers of one of these tests, are so far also not very accurate.  They are more used for deciding who needs to get a reliable PCR test.  I see a lot got erased here.

[AnxiousNoMore]

Yes, each company with different tech is irrelevant to the other. Therefore Abbott promises are unrelated.

[AnxiousNoMore]

Yes, I mentioned twice that current mass testing devices are inaccurate - reread my first and last sentences.  The ones promising to be both fast and accurate use different technology, which is what makes the biotech world go round.

[Paxiled]

"Promising."  That's what Abbott labs said, and they're one of the companies with one of these fast tests.  We'll see.  

[AnxiousNoMore]

Just giving each employer a tool to force test all of the employees every week would cover a lot of the population, plus add in all mass gathering events and you will pick up lots of other people.  
My friend said his mother is in the high risk age group and terrified of Covid, however not enough for her to stop going to restaurants daily, so I get the feeling the spread won't stop without some form of forced compliance and I can't see any jurisdiction forcing enough of their citizens to vax to stamp out the virus - if  a vax even appears. Anyway, a device that is rapid, cheap and accurate for mass testing is not available today.

[Paxiled]

Anxious, I thought a university has developed one.  In fact, I thought more than one had.  There's also the Abbott Labs test which is pretty quick, it's the one the White House uses.  The problem is, all these quick tests have high rates of inaccuracy, so far.  I also don't think the vaccine is going to end this any time soon, because it will take years to vaccinate regularly the percentage of the world's population needed to make it work.  People travel, so this isn't something any one country can fix on its own unless it closes itself off to anyone coming to it, which kind of negates the economic benefits of beating the virus.  So even with the vaccine, we'll still be wearing masks and social distancing for at least a couple of years, most likely, and if the vaccine isn't very good, maybe for the rest of us old fogy's lifetimes.