Community Chat

[RoughDraft]

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@Sugipine wrote:

If the antibody test can prove that someone is immune and w/o virus then that person can go back to work and be at work safely!

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From what I've read so far, the antinbody tests are showing that immunity is not a long term guarantee.  That sucker can pop back up without warning unless a viable vaccine is produced.  

The common cold is a form of coronoa and to this day, we haven't seen a cure for it.  Makes you think doesn't it?

[gardenman]

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@RoughDraft wrote:

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@Sugipine wrote:

If the antibody test can prove that someone is immune and w/o virus then that person can go back to work and be at work safely!

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From what I've read so far, the antinbody tests are showing that immunity is not a long term guarantee.  That sucker can pop back up without warning unless a viable vaccine is produced.  

The common cold is a form of coronoa and to this day, we haven't seen a cure for it.  Makes you think doesn't it?

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The common cold is caused by well over two hundred different viruses, typically rhinoviruses. If you've had one of those infections in recent years you won't get a cold from that same virus, but you can get one from one of its 200+ cousins. As for the coronavirus, I'm not sure how much you can trust the early antibody tests. There are likely both false positives and false negatives in the early testing.  If covid-19 is just a single version of the virus in circulation, and you've been infected and cleared the virus, you should be immune to reinfection. 

[MorningLover]

Rutgers University researchers have received U.S. government clearance for the first saliva test to help diagnose COVID-19, a new approach that could help expand testing options and reduce risks of infection for health care workers. The FDA authorized the test under its emergency powers to quickly clear new tests and therapies to fight the outbreak, the New Jersey university said. 

The current approach to screening for COVID-19 requires health care workers to take a swab from a patient’s nose or throat. To lessen infection risks, many hospitals and clinics instruct staff to discard gloves and masks after close contact with anyone who may have the virus. With the new saliva-based test, patients are given a plastic tube into which they spit several times. They then hand the tube back to the health care worker for laboratory processing.

Rutgers tested the accuracy of its method by taking both saliva and swab samples from 60 patients. The results from patients’ saliva samples had a 100% match with results from the swabs.

Rutgers developed the laboratory method for the test using saliva collection kits from Spectrum Solutions, a Utah company that provides similar devices for DNA-based ancestry testing services. The Rutgers lab can currently process 10,000 patient samples per day.

[MorningLover]

3/17

Roche begins shipping 400K coronavirus test kits per week in the U.S.

Roche Diagnostics said that it has begun deploying its newly authorized cobas coronavirus diagnostic to hospitals and reference laboratories. The company said it plans to ship 400,000 per week to U.S. test sites, including from its global distribution center in Indianapolis, Indiana.

Roche received the FDA’s first emergency use authorization for a commercially developed COVID-19 test. The kits are being delivered first to more than 30 labs that already have the necessary hardware in place to begin high-throughput testing. Roche said it worked with government agencies to make sure the distribution prioritizes labs with the broadest geographic reach and highest patient impact, and that healthcare providers can send samples to these labs for processing.

The company estimates the fully automated test can deliver 384 results per eight-hour shift on its cobas 6800 system, and 960 on its larger cobas 8800. Results are available in about three-and-a-half hours after the test begins.

CEO Severin Schwan said that countries need to broaden testing to more people, and faster, based on the severity of symptoms and regardless of their age—however, companies’ diagnostic supplies are still unable to catch up with the enormous worldwide demand. 

It will be also necessary to ramp up the installed base of compatible, automated testing machines. Roche began developing its high-throughput test in January, and turned it around in “record time,” thanks in part to “excellent collaboration with the FDA,” he said.

~FierceBiotech

[pitdakota]

@MorningLover, any word on the supply of the cotton swabs and PPE?  That is what is the hold up in my state and several other states.  They have testing kits, but no swabs or limited amounts of PPE for the nurses conducting the tests.

Here, that is the hold up on testing.  They have plenty of capacity to do the tests, have kits....just a very limited number of swabs and PPE so they ration out only so many number of tests per day and are still only testing according to tiers identified by the CDC.  Which means they can't do the number of tests they need to be doing. 

Kroger stepped up and was able to get supplies to add a couple hundred more tests a day and started some drive through testing sites  with the goal of doing 1,000 tests over 4 days.  But that isn't enough for what is happening on the ground in our state. 

At any rate, PPE is a big concern.  Nurses doing the testing have to have gowns, masks, face shields to conduct the testing.

[MorningLover]

Some info. posted by FEMA / Pete Gaynor 

FEMA is doing incredible work to combat coronavirus, bringing crucial medical supplies to critical locations around the country.

For example...

4/6 FEMA: A Project Air Bridge flight arrived in Louisville, KY with 1.19M masks, 682,400 surgical gowns & 2M medical swabs. The supplies will be first distributed to counties with the greatest covid- 19 needs. Fema has scheduled additional flights and is adding more daily.

Airbridge brought 170k more N95 masks, 2.85 million other masks, 18,650 more medical gowns, and 11.8 million more gloves to  Columbus, OH for national distribution. DHSgov is getting critical supplies to where they are needed most 

Recently, two Project Air Bridge flights arrived in Chicago, IL carrying over 16M gloves, 698,590 gowns & 690 thermometers. The supplies will be distributed to counties with the greatest covid-19 needs.FEMA has scheduled additional flights and is adding more daily.  

[pitdakota]

@MorningLover., those supplies did not come for release to the state of Kentucky.  UPS has a major hub in Louisville, Ky. called UPS World Port. UPS has entered into a partnership with FEMA to set up a distribution center at their UPS hub in Louisville.

So those are not supplies designated for the state of Ky.  The plans are for portions of them to be sent to states in the region as they determine.

To date, the state of Ky. has not received any of those supplies & it is not known whether Ky. will get anything from that distribution center.  At the current time, they are still trying back channels to obtain PPE and swabs. 

[Drythe]

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@gardenman wrote:

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@RoughDraft wrote:

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@Sugipine wrote:

If the antibody test can prove that someone is immune and w/o virus then that person can go back to work and be at work safely!

---

From what I've read so far, the antinbody tests are showing that immunity is not a long term guarantee.  That sucker can pop back up without warning unless a viable vaccine is produced.  

The common cold is a form of coronoa and to this day, we haven't seen a cure for it.  Makes you think doesn't it?

---

The common cold is caused by well over two hundred different viruses, typically rhinoviruses. If you've had one of those infections in recent years you won't get a cold from that same virus, but you can get one from one of its 200+ cousins. As for the coronavirus, I'm not sure how much you can trust the early antibody tests. There are likely both false positives and false negatives in the early testing.  If covid-19 is just a single version of the virus in circulation, and you've been infected and cleared the virus, you should be immune to reinfection. 

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@gardenman 

Should, but some people are showing little, or no residual antibodies. Testing (in hopes of creating a vaccine) on people who have had Covid and recovered is, proving this out.

I haven't heard of any false positives yet.  Please site source if you do, I'm very interested in reading about it.

@RoughDraft  

[Drythe]

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@pitdakota wrote:

@MorningLover., those supplies did not come for release to the state of Kentucky.  UPS has a major hub in Louisville, Ky. called UPS World Port. UPS has entered into a partnership with FEMA to set up a distribution center at their UPS hub in Louisville.

So those are not supplies designated for the state of Ky.  The plans are for portions of them to be sent to states in the region as they determine.

To date, the state of Ky. has not received any of those supplies & it is not known whether Ky. will get anything from that distribution center.  At the current time, they are still trying back channels to obtain PPE and swabs. 

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@pitdakota 

And then there is the situation of the FBI following to 'purchase' PPE equipment. Wonder what will come of that?

My state has been relieved of at least one shipment and has received no FEMA PPE, what we have gotten was purchased by the state.

it's like ... 🤔🤯

[Lipstickdiva]

It's my understanding we have tested under 1% of the total population.

The US can't do better than this?