While it is good to have a rapid test, the results don’t affect the treatment. Regardless of the test results (Or lack thereof), the treatment is the same and is based on the symptoms presented, is it not?
@roycroftmom yes but the difference is that a rapid test gets you and those closest to you a chance to quarantine, especially if its before some show symptoms.
It says 8 hours in the article. Maybe they updated text after you posted. A typical RT-PCR assay will run around 3 hours, and there is sample prep time (RNA extraction, etc) as well as analyzing the data (which is short on a real-time instrument, but there are more boxes to check with patient samples).
Whether a person has regular flu or COVID 19, they should be self isolating anyway.
Yes. But we are dangerously low on protective gear for healthcare workers (HCW). Due to the testing issues, they usually don’t know who has the virus. So, either HCW have to suit up for everyone with a fever and/or respiratory symptoms, or we risk wide infection amongst HCW. When the surge comes, either we are out of PPE, or we have low numbers of HCW because many are quarantined or sick.
Testing itself is not perfect, for example, there is apparently a fairly high rate of false negatives, especially in people who have no symptoms or mild symptoms.
But despite its imperfections, timely testing is a big part of preventing the worst outcomes such as lack of PPE or high levels of infection in HCW.
Princess cruises has cancelled all sailings for 2 months.
Some Asian countries already have test kits that give results within hours or less. Currently, test results here seem to take days to come out. In NJ, as of noon yesterday, the state only tested 80 cases with 23 positives. None of them has yet been confirmed by the CDC. Not only we can’t test enough patients, but also we can’t get the test results back for days. It’s truly a shame.
This article says that the Cleveland Clinic will be able to test for the virus in-house. But it will take a month to verify results and get the tests up and running.
There are more than 300 cases in Washington state, most clustered around the greater Seattle area. This is way more cases than in some of those countries where the travel restrictions are now in place.
And a LOT of people fly in and out of SeaTac.
Just saying.
The Mayo Clinic in Rochester, MN is doing “drive-by” outdoor testing for the virus, but a phone screening is required first.
In the US, it is less of an integrated partnership than each entity independently doing what it believes is necessary (often mainly in the interests of itself and its own associated people), especially when leadership at the top of the national government is widely seen as behind the curve (or worse).
We need to restrict travel into and out of these hot spots. Lockdown, however unpleasant, is the best mechanism we have available currently dealing with this virus.
And Westchester County has 121 known cases and population less than 1 million.
As far as I am concerned, this will help Europe more than US.
This could become a very interesting issue if (when?) our medical facilities are overtaxed and the rationing that is occurring in Italy happens here. Will we look out for our own citizens first in that case? What if it was YOUR relative who was denied a respirator or any care at all and left to die, while a non-citizen got the care instead?
The Miami Open tennis tournament has been cancelled.
Here we go again
US stocks sold off sharply for the second straight day after President Trump banned European travel to the United States. Wall Street investors are worried about the scale of the coronavirus pandemic and its economic consequences.
Shortly after the opening, trading was halted because the S&P 500 dropped more than 7%. Trading will stop for 15 minutes.
The Dow opened 7.4%, or 1,750 points, lower. The Nasdaq Composite fell 6.9%.
That’s good news for me. All my mom’s doctors are at Cleveland Clinic.
She is 90 and in excellent health but I told her yesterday not to go to an urgent care if she doesn’t feel well and to call her primary care doctor at CC. She said that is exactly what she would do.
Not surprising at all.
Likely the whole clay season gets cancelled too.
TennisChannel Plus announced a few days ago they will be prorating subscription cost and issuing credits for as many weeks there isn’t tennis.
Most of the players are still in Indian Wells waiting for this decision.
@TatinG, I know. Many didn’t want to fly anywhere in case they couldn’t get back in the states. Heard it on several tennis pods I listen to. Plus, IW is covering cost of players hotels rooms for this week.