President Donald Trump on Monday announced the distribution in the United States of 150 million rapid tests to detect the coronavirus in 15 minutes, a method comparable to pregnancy tests and much faster than the molecular tests used since the start of the pandemic .
Read also: Coronavirus: antigenic tests, a risky bet
Many public health experts have been campaigning for months for the use of these so-called inexpensive antigenic tests to allow people to test themselves several times a week as needed, and to have a result almost immediately, arguing that a ultra-precise test whose result is not known until five or seven days later is useless, the infectious period having then generally passed.
Antigen tests are generally less sensitive than traditional molecular tests (PCR), that is, they will not detect a certain number of cases.
But these researchers explain that in terms of public health, they will be more useful since with the increase in the volumes of tests, a greater number of cases in total can be detected.
Not to mention that the test is usually best at the peak of contagiousness, when it is crucial to isolate positive cases.
"50 million tests will be used to protect the most vulnerable communities
,
"
announced Donald Trump in the gardens of the White House, along with the boss of the laboratory that designed the test, Abbott, and who received urgent marketing authorization at the end of August, the only one now in the country.
Historically black or Native American teachers, nursing homes and universities will take priority, said Donald Trump.
120 million tests for the poorest
Earlier Monday, the World Health Organization announced a plan to deliver 120 million rapid tests to the poorest countries in the next six months.
The test, called BinaxNOW, will not be bought in pharmacies in the United States: it will be carried out by health professionals or trained personnel, according to the priorities set by the state governors.
The test does not need any machine to operate.
It has the size and shape of a credit card: it consists of a swab (a kind of cotton swab) for a shallow sample in the nose, and a reactive liquid that is poured into a notch of the card, where the direct debit is then placed.
The result is transmitted to the patient by a mobile application.
The cost of the test, paid for by the US government, is five dollars.
The federal administration bought the first 150 million from Abbott, which plans to distribute 48 million per month initially.
It's
"a good start"
, welcomed on Twitter Michael Mina, a Harvard epidemiologist who has been pushing the government to adopt these tests for months,
"but do not be fooled: the number of tests distributed by the House Blanche is far from sufficient ”
.
According to him, the quantities needed to really take control of the epidemic will be ten to twenty times those announced.
