10 minute test - surely this is THE answer...

[Derbygerbil]

www.intelligentfingerprinting.com/imperial-college-london-intelligent-fingerprinting-covid-19-fingerprint-test/

I don’t believe this is ready yet, but when it is, if Governments ramped up mass production of this, then surely it could be administered any time people wanted to mix, and we can forget social distancing restrictions for ever!

Teachers and children at schools could have it when they arrived... it negative they’d be allowed to carry on as normal...
ditto workplace, restaurants, cinemas etc. It would be a bit of a pain having to turn up 15 minutes early everywhere, but it’s surely a price worth paying. I realise this would require us to produce millions upon millions of tests daily, but the compared to the cost to the economy of dealing with Covid, it would be worth massive investment.

Yes that is only way we can move forward without a vaccine. I hope this is available by September so Secondary schools can go back, either wise I can’t see how it will work.

Yes that is only way we can move forward without a vaccine. I hope this is available by September so Secondary schools can go back, either wise I can’t see how it will work.

So why isn’t this being identified as a potential game-changer... Am I missing something?

I suppose it depends on how well the test development is proceeding. The test would also need to be accurate and cost effective.

So why isn’t this being identified as a potential game-changer... Am I missing something?
Because it hasn't been developed yet? It is in development which actually means nothing really. It is an interesting concept atm which needs to be developed and then tested to see IF it will work.

No point identifying it unless and until it works - like other things such as testing current drug regimes to see if they will work on Covid. There are probably oodles of things we don't know about going on behind the scenes.

I was thinking about this a while back in the context of risky interactions like going to the dentist… A negative test is a must before being admitted. But I think if it’s been rolled out on the scale that you suggest, surely a consequence is the near eradication of coronavirus, if that many tests are being carried out a day. An interesting concept nonetheless.

Really interesting. Does anyone know if there are any studies as to when/if virus shows in sweat? I know with potential saliva based tests, for example, that it doesn’t show up in saliva until later stages of infection - initially it’s confined to upper respiratory but later goes to saliva, faeces etc. I haven’t seen studies on sweat, would love to know if this could work as obvs this is THE near term key to getting our world back

As an emetaophobe, my heart leapt. I'm genuinely more frightened of taking a swab test than having coronavirus.

But I think if it’s been rolled out on the scale that you suggest, surely a consequence is the near eradication of coronavirus

Indeed, you wouldn’t need to do it for long to squash it! Saturation testing for a month in this way is probably enough to eradicate it... within our borders anyway.

It would take longer than 15 minutes to process a whole secondary school full of children. I can see it enabling a return to dentists, visiting care homes etc. but I think for schools a temperature forehead scanner would be the only practical solution but it would not detect asymptomatic cases.

What I don’t understand, is this has been developed. And we are not using it. I know for sure that Qatar airways (maybe other airlines too) are testing every passenger flying from the Middle East, before they get on the plane. Also, every single passenger entering Hong Kong is being tested after getting off the plane. You have to sit in a huge hanger type room with the rest of the passengers until you get the results.

Wuhan tested every person in the city recently. I think they said it was 11 million people. This was done in one week.

Quick testing does exist, so why aren’t we using it in the uk?? In my head, if everyone was tested in the uk, then we could isolate the infected and ones their close contacts, and the virus could be virtually eliminated in a month or two.

A breathalyser that gives instant results has also apparently been invented as per below article, although I've heard no update on it for a while.

www.eurotimes.org/israeli-researchers-optimistic-about-covid-19-breathalyser-test/

I agree an instant test would be a huge gamechanger and I don't understand why it isn't discussed in the same way vaccines and treatments are as a way to control the situation.

I’ve thought this for a while- a pregnancy style test we could take once a week (or even once a day..?!) and we could squash it almost completely.... would be a complete game changer and I agree I’m not sure why it’s not something being discussed more....

The Hong Kong testing takes several hours; If you do it in the morning, you get it back that day, but you have to stay overnight in quarantine if you arrive in the afternoon or evening. I think Qatar have quietly dropped their test - it was always questionable, and then a flight to Athens arrived with 12 passengers on it who tested positive 5 hours after leaving Doha....

We do seem to be testing something -
www.gov.uk/government/news/trial-of-rapid-coronavirus-test-launched-in-hampshire

but that doesn't seem to have concluded yet that I can see.

I suspect its potential for success is precisely why it won't be developed to that kind of scale. I don't mean this from a tinfoil-hat conspiracy theory pov but just thinking in terms of business ROI but if it works well and production capacity was built to make billions of tests every day, then yes within a matter of weeks the virus would be eradicated - and then where is the return on investment for all that production capacity? you then have vast factories capable of churning out billions of tests for a disease that has been eradicated. no investor would put up funds to build up that kind of capacity.

so yes the test will be developed but capacity will be kept at a low, sustainable level. enough for businesses who want to test people regularly to buy an ongoing supply, on the assumption that the virus will remain endemic for long enough to justify the investment.

@YinuCeatleAyru

I suspect its potential for success is precisely why it won't be developed to that kind of scale. I don't mean this from a tinfoil-hat conspiracy theory pov but just thinking in terms of business ROI but if it works well and production capacity was built to make billions of tests every day, then yes within a matter of weeks the virus would be eradicated - and then where is the return on investment for all that production capacity? you then have vast factories capable of churning out billions of tests for a disease that has been eradicated. no investor would put up funds to build up that kind of capacity.

so yes the test will be developed but capacity will be kept at a low, sustainable level. enough for businesses who want to test people regularly to buy an ongoing supply, on the assumption that the virus will remain endemic for long enough to justify the investment.

But a huge amount of profit could still be made, and also isn't it in every one's interest to work towards this virus being eradicated?