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COVID19 update, March 26, 2020: antibody testing could be a game changer
SSC via InstapunditMultiple reports are coming in about new tests for SARS-nCoV-2 antibodies being developed and rushed into production: • USA: Reuters dispatch • From Belgium, De Standaard (in Dutch) reports on a homegrown antibody test that gives results in 15 minutes • The UK is days away from rolling out "millions" of a similar test, developed at Oxford University, reports the Sydney Morning Herald. Why is this a big deal? For one, antibody tests are way faster and easier to administer than the slow PCR testing for the virus itself. This is something that can be scaled up to entire populations of a region. For another, if this confirms the theory of an Oxford epidemiologist that a substantial percentage of the UK population is already immune to the virus... That would completely transform the economic calculus. People who are immune could simply get tested, get a clean bill of health, and go back to work. This would go a long way to mitigating the economic damage (which ultimately filters down to everybody) of a prolonged lockdown. Now that the quarantine bought time to develop these things, we're golden. You see, Lex & Co, either-or problems exist only in the ideological realm - not in the real world. Posted by: g(r)omgoru 2020-03-27 |
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