One obstacle to getting the a handle on the number of cases of Covid19 is the ability to quickly test potential patients at the hospital, clinic or curb-side testing facility. Not only have we not had enough testing kits, but the results from the ones we do have take several days to come back with an answer. Now the FDA has approved the first test that can be done entirely at the site where a patient first enters the healthcare system.
According to The Hill:
The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has approved the first coronavirus diagnostic test that can be conducted entirely at the point of care.
The test from California-based Cepheid will deliver results in about 45 minutes – much faster than current tests that require a sample to be sent to a centralized lab, where results can take days.
The article goes on to say:
The test has been designed to operate on any of Cepheid’s more than 23,000 automated GeneXpert Systems worldwide, of which 5,000 are in the U.S., the company said. The systems are already being used to test for conditions like HIV or tuberculosis.
The systems do not require users to have specialty training to perform testing, and are capable of running around the clock.
