Health

How can Americans get tested for coronavirus? Drive-thru and at-home tests sprout up


A shortage of test kits for coronavirus has triggered fury and frustration among Americans as the infection has spread with alarming speed through the US. 

Now, new tests and types of tests are being produced and quickly rushed into use by local public health labs, universities, and private companies in the wake of the Trump Administration’s decision to let states approve their own tests, without Food and Drug Administration (FDA) review. 

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) has pushed out more of its test kit and Admiral Bret Giroir of the of the US Public Health Service Commissioned Corps said that as of Tuesday, some 59,000 Americans had been tested. 

But shortages persist. DailyMail.com breaks down the various tests now available in the US – and those that are not available to Americans. 

Testing is surging across the US, as companies develop at-home tests and samples are sent to labs from drive-thru test sites across the US (pictured)

Testing is surging across the US, as companies develop at-home tests and samples are sent to labs from drive-thru test sites across the US (pictured) 

THE $135 AT-HOME CORONAVIRUS TEST READY FOR ORDER STARTING MARCH 23

A company called Everlywell says it has made a $135 test that Americans can take at home.  

The test still has to be prescribed by a doctor – but they can do so over telemedicine – and then sent to a patient at home. 

 

Because there has been a shortage of tests available in the US, healthcare workers have to rule out other viruses first, such as the flu.  

If a physician decides to prescribe the Everlywell test, users pay $135 to receive the test kit in two days – or pay $165 to receive it overnight.

Patients can register online for the EverlyWell test once a doctor approves that they're eligible to take one. Samples are then sent to certified labs for analysis

Patients can register online for the EverlyWell test once a doctor approves that they’re eligible to take one. Samples are then sent to certified labs for analysis

A patient then swabs their own nose and throat follows the instructions to seal the samples, and ships them back to one of FDA labs via pre-paid overnight shipping.   

Each kit comes with swabs so samples can be taken from the nose and throat, as well as instructions on how to seal the sample and return it. 

Users collect the samples themselves and send them in a pre-paid overnight package to an FDA-approved lab with results available within 48 hours. 

Everlywell says results will be sent to consumers via text and email.

If a test comes back positive, users will be offered a telemedicine consultation at no additional cost.

They warn that any physician will be required to report a positive case to the state health department where the user lives.  

The company says it will turn no profit from the tests, and that they can be covered by participating insurance providers.  

Everlywell says that the tests can be processed and results returned within 72 hours.  

THE CDC’S CORONAVIRUS TEST WAS THE FIRST – BUT IT WAS FLAWED 

On February 6, the CDC began distributing 200 of its test kits to 115 labs across the US as well as 191 international labs, as well as 191 international labs, including the World Health Organization (WHO). 

The test kits shipped in white cardboard boxes, each of which contained four labeled vials. 

Like a flu test, a clinician swabs each patients nose and throat to get mucus and saliva samples, then each sample in one of the vials. This is done twice, filling all four vials.

The kits were then shipped back to CDC-qualified labs on ice. 

CDC's test (pictured) was the first available in the US, but the agency was widely criticized for not distributing enough tests and for a flaw in the reagent used in it

CDC’s test (pictured) was the first available in the US, but the agency was widely criticized for not distributing enough tests and for a flaw in the reagent used in it 

But the initial batch of tests turned out to be flawed. One of the reagents meant to react to the virus’s genetic material was botched, meaning that some results came back ‘inconclusive.’ 

CDC rushed out re-made reagents, but the delay triggered anger, panic, and a renewed push from state, private and institutional labs to make their own tests. 

NEW YORK’S RUSH TO MAKE ITS OWN CORONAVIRUS TESTS 

On February 29, the FDA gave the green light to New York state’s own coronavirus test to be run at the Wadsworth Laboratory in Albany, triggering a rapid rise in positive results in the state. 

The next week, the FDA approved testing to be conducted at Long Island’s Northwell Health lab. 

At first, each sample had to be manually assessed, rather than returning automated results. With automated result, New York has seen a rapid increase in people testing positive. 

There are now 5,306 people with coronavirus in the state. 

Now other states across the US are authorized to make and use their own tests – most of which are performed and analyzed in the same way the CDC’s is – without waiting for FDA approval.  

BIG PRIVATE LABS OFFER TESTS TO BOLSTER SHORT SUPPLY 

Abbott's test is performed by health care professionals and it has promised 150,000 kits to ship soon

Abbott’s test is performed by health care professionals and it has promised 150,000 kits to ship soon

President Trump has consistently sung the praises of private companies for developing COVID-19 tests. 

The FDA gave emergency use authorization first to Swiss pharmaceutical company, Roche, for its test which was made in partnership with Thermo Fisher, a major medical device manufacturer. 

Roche sent out its first 400,000 tests on Tuesday. 

Its partner, Thermo Fisher, said it will manufacture five million tests each week by April. 

The latest test to get approval was Abbott’s, and 150,000 kits are expected to ship imminently. 

LabCorp, another US testing giant, has begun testing samples at labs in Arizona, North Carolina, and New Jersey. It says that by Friday, it will begin testing performing 20,000 tests a day, but that results should not be expected for three to four days.  

DRIVE-THRU TESTS NOW OFFERED IN MULTIPLE US STATES 

Many US states are now offering drive-thru testing in an effort to expedite the process and limit exposure for health care workers, dozens of whom have now tested positive. 

Admiral Giroir announced this week that drive through testing was opening up in 47 locations across 12 states. 

He admitted then that their Monday trial run brought many kinks to work out, but those sites have nonetheless been flooded with Americans hoping to find out if they are infected from the safety of their cars. 

Health care workers in PPE wait outside a University of Washington drive-thru coronavirus testing station

Health care workers in PPE wait outside a University of Washington drive-thru coronavirus testing station 

Car passengers noses are swabbed through their windows by professionals in full PPE

Car passengers noses are swabbed through their windows by professionals in full PPE 

Before a test is administered, testing site staff screen the passengers to make sure they qualify for testing

Before a test is administered, testing site staff screen the passengers to make sure they qualify for testing 

Health care workers in full personal protective gear (PPE) come out to each car as it drives up, and in most case they swab the nasal cavity and throat of whichever people in the car need to be tested. 

Some sites, including Stanford University’s in California, still require a doctor’s referral before a patient is eligible for drive-thru testing, according to NPR.

In others, anyone can come to the drive-thru site and will be screened 

Drive-thru testing is now available in: 

  • California
  • Connecticut 
  • New York 
  • Minnesota
  • Texas 
  • Washington 
  • Florida 
  • Maryland
  • Virginia 
  • Ohio
  • Massachusetts 
  • South Carolina  

GEORGIA LAB HAS CREATED A $150 AT-HOME TEST FOR COVID-19 

A second company has quickly worked up an at-home test kit, now selling for even less than Everlywell’s. 

LifeHope Labs, based in Sandy Springs, Georgia, says it developed its at-home diagnostic in just two weeks. 

WHAT ARE THE SYMPTOMS OF CORONAVIRUS?

Like other coronaviruses, including those that cause the common cold and that triggered SARS, COVID-19 is a respiratory illness.  

  • The most common symptoms are: 
  • Fever 
  • Dry cough 
  • Shortness of breath
  • Difficulty breathing 
  • Fatigue 

Although having a runny nose doesn’t rule out coronavirus, it doesn’t thus far appear to be a primary symptom. 

Most people only become mildly ill, but the infection can turn serious and even deadly, especially for those who are older or have underlying health conditions.  

In these cases, patients develop pneumonia, which can cause: 

  • Potentially with yellow, green or bloody mucus
  • Fever, sweating and shaking chills
  • Shortness of breath 
  • Rapid or shallow breathing 
  • Pain when breathing, especially when breathing deeply or coughing 
  • Low appetite, energy and fatigue 
  • Nausea and vomiting (more common in children) 
  • Confusion (more common in elderly people)
  • Some patients have also reported diarrhea and kidney failure has occassionally been a complication. 

Avoid people with these symtpoms. If you develop them, call your health care provider before going to the hospital or doctor, so they and you can prepare to minimize possivle exposure if they suspect you have coronavirus.  

 

When it began shipping the kits, last week, they charged $240 per test, but has since dropped its price to just $150. 

According to the Washington Post, LifeHope first intended to sell tests directly to consumers, which would have expedited the process and eased pressure on health care professionals, but Georgia officials warned the company that even under new protocols, the diagnostic couldn’t be sold that way. 

Under unprecedented rules, COVID-19 diagnostics can be distributed without FDA approval, but not without state sign-off. 

Now, the lab is working with doctors, who have to screen patients – in person or via telemedicine – and prescribe the mail order test. Patients can then enter their prescription code online and be shipped a test. 

By last Friday, the company had already run 100 tests, and its CEO told KJRH that it had 7,500 test ready to ship and anticipated another 5,000 would be ready to be sent out in the next week. 

And it promises a 24-hour turn around on the results. 

THE AT-HOME TEST SPECIFICALLY DESIGNED FOR THOSE ON THE FRONT LINES OF THE BATTLE AGAINST COVID-19 

Zymo Research, an Irvine, California, based company aims to get first responders and health care workers tested for coronavirus as fast as possible. 

It’s kit is designed to be self-adminstered, collecting just one sample from the throat, which is preserved by a liquid agent in a test tube, for the sample to be shipped to the company’s partner lab, Pangea Laboratories. 

The order form from Pangea has a field for visitors to select whether they are a patient, health care provider or an organization interested in testing employees that may be at high risk. 

Unlike LifeHope, the company is waiting for FDA approval, via emergency use authorization (EUA), but is already accepting orders for its kits.  

THE 15-MINUTE CORONAVIRUS TEST THAT IS NOT BEING USED IN THE US  

A North Carolina-based company says its 15-minute blood test is already being widely used by the Chinese CDC, helping officials there to diagnose more patients, faster. 

On Thursday, that company, BioMedomics, announced its ‘quick and easy’ test is ready and being used in South Korea, Japan, Italy and some countries in the Middle East. 

But the US FDA has not approved the test under its EUA measure. It’s possible that because the test is run in the field, it does not meet the FDA’s lab requirements. 

BioMedomics claims its test can screen for coronavirus in 15 minutes using a small drop of blood and a tiny device that can be carried into the field

BioMedomics claims its test can screen for coronavirus in 15 minutes using a small drop of blood and a tiny device that can be carried into the field

BioMedomics claims its test can detect the virus within minutes, using either an IV blood sample or a droplet retrieved via finger-prick – even in patients that don’t have symptoms. 

The CDC itself previously cautioned that it’s possible for patients to develop COVID-19 after testing negative – although it’s unclear if this issue might have been resolved after the new reagent was made. 

After the sample of blood is collected, a technician injects it into the analysis device – which is about the size of an Apple TV or Roku remote – along with some buffer, and waits 15 minutes. 

Results are displayed in a similar fashion to those of an at-home pregnancy test.  

However, the test hasn’t been as widely studied as have others. The company’s website cites a study of just 525 suspected patients. 

Of those, the test correctly identified 352 patients as positive, making it about 89 percent sensitive, or accurate. Twelve were false positives. 

So it may not be as precise as the gold standard, but it is certainly faster.



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