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The USA is one of the countries where the number of coronavirus patients is the fastest in the world. On July 29, almost 67 were infected there. new people. Meanwhile, Bill Gates says most of the SARS-CoV-2 detection tests performed in the US are “a complete waste”. Why? He wrote about it, inter alia CNN.
- The USA is one of the countries where the number of coronavirus patients is the fastest in the world. On the other hand, the US is at the forefront of the tests that have been carried out so far
- Coronavirus testing in the US, Gates said, is “a total waste” in most cases. Reason? It takes too long to see the results
- It can take anywhere from a few days to a week or more to get a result, CNBC reported
The epidemic situation in the USA – the most infections in the world
The United States has had the largest number of infections from the coronavirus so far. Almost 19 million people have contracted COVID-4,6 from this country. Only in the last 66 hours there were 921 infections (it was worse only in Brazil with 70). The number of active patients as of July 869 is 29. The worst situation is in California, Florida and County New York.
The coronavirus has so far killed 153 US residents. Data from July 845 show that 29 people died on that day alone (in terms of the number of daily deaths, it is the second result in the world – Brazil is again first with 1 deaths).
On the other hand, the US is at the forefront of the tests that have been carried out so far. Their number is about 56,7 million (more is only recorded in China). Per million inhabitants (and there are over 331 in the USA) it is 171 tests (171th place in the world).
Bill Gates, the founder of Microsoft, a billionaire and a well-known philanthropist (he has already donated hundreds of millions of dollars to research on the COVID-19 vaccine) is involved in the fight against the coronavirus. Meanwhile, in an interview with CNBC, Gates said that coronavirus testing in the US is “a total waste” in most cases. Reason? It takes too long to see the results.
It is therefore necessary to shorten the waiting time for the test result to reduce infections. This way, according to Bill Gates, patients will be able to take appropriate precautions in time and simply not infect others.
- Is the world losing the fight against coronavirus?
“With all the numbers on how many tests we do, most of it is just a complete waste,” Gates told CNBC, calling it “madness” to pay for a test that takes more than three days to a full week for a test result.
Experts also say the time taken to obtain the results has limited the ability of the United States to slow the spread of the virus.
Brett Giroir, the deputy health secretary of the Donald Trump administration, agrees with Gates, stressing that the tests need improvement. “We will never be satisfied with testing (for COVID-19 – ed.) Until we can get a result within 24 hours,” he told CNN. As he emphasized, half of the tests in the USA are carried out in large commercial laboratories, and the average waiting time for the results is 4,27 days.
It can take anywhere from a few days to a week or more to get a result, CNBC reported. The station asked the American clinical laboratory Quest Diagnostics about the waiting time for the test result. The facility replied that for the highest priority patients (e.g. hospital patients, symptomatic health workers) it is now more than two days, for all other people it is extended to more than seven days.
— Right now, when someone waits more than three or sometimes seven days, they shouldn’t even pay a dollar for the test. This is crazy, says Bill Gates. “You need to prioritize and make sure that the low-income communities that are most at risk get results within 24 hours,” he explains.
Why such delays? The reason indicated by the station is the sharp increase in coronavirus cases in the so-called Sun Belt – a region including, among others California, Florida, Texas, i.e. places that belong to the top places when it comes to the number of infections. “Laboratories across the country are lagging behind in processing and delivering test results as the exponential surge in coronavirus cases in the Sun Belt strains their systems” – we read.
Brett Giroir points out that only the best and most reliable molecular tests (PCR) on the market are delayed. Meanwhile, rapid point-of-care tests can produce results within minutes (such tests, however, have a higher ‘false-negative’ rate).
- Types of coronavirus tests – how do they work and how do they differ?
LabCorp CEO Adam Schechter (a company that, among other things, conducts specialized tests, develops PCR testing methods) announced that the company is working on a significant increase in the “testing capacity”, especially as the flu season is approaching.
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