FDA Says People May Soon Have Access to Safer COVID-19 Test at Home
Written by SOURCE on April 17, 2020
The Food and Drug Administration announced Friday that people may soon be able to engage in “safer at-home coronavirus testing.”
Per CNN, the FDA said it’s collaborated with US Cotton for a newly designed Q-tip-style swab exam that notably uses swabs that are shorter than the ones currently used by doctors and nurses for collecting samples used in COVID-19 tests.
“We appreciate work by UnitedHealth Group, Quantigen, and the Gates Foundation to perform and support the clinical studies necessary for this advancement,” FDA Commissioner Stephen M. Hahn said in a press release. “We also want to acknowledge US Cotton’s efforts to manufacture a new type of swab for COVID-19 testing that can be produced at scale.”
Considerations are being made, Hahn added, regarding how the supplies can help meet testing needs at the global level.
“All of these actions by these American organizations will help continue to expand our testing capability,” Hahn said.
The revelation that spun synthetic swabs could be used for testing was inspired by findings taken from a clinical investigation by the FDA, the Gates Foundation, Quantigen, and UnitedHealth Group. Front of the nose testing, the type used in the study, “is notable” due to its allowance of self-collection which limits potential exposure to the virus by healthcare workers and others.
The total number of COVID-19 cases in the US had topped 632,000 at the time of this writing, with more than 31,000 reported deaths. For current info on how to maneuver through day-to-day life in the era of coronavirus, click here.
