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Concerns about at-home coronavirus testing

Caitlin Owens, author of Vitals

Photo: Ben Hasty/MediaNews Group/Reading Eagle via Getty Images

The latest wave of coronavirus testing concerns has arrived, this time about new at-home tests that are hitting the market, the Wall Street Journal reports.

Between the lines: Experts are worried about the accuracy of the tests and about limitations on who can access them.

The big picture: The Food and Drug Administration has so far given emergency authorization to six at-home collection kits, which still must be sent to a lab.

  • These tests, in theory, expand testing access to people who can't easily leave their homes and to those who would be at-risk in a doctor's office around other patients. They also add to the total number of available tests.
  • They're appealing to employers who want to test their workers and universities that want to test faculty and students.

Yes, but: The tests aren't foolproof, and can produce varying rates of false negatives depending on where the sample is collected from.

  • They are also dependent on lab capacity to process them.
  • And for some people, the tests' price tag could be prohibitive if it isn't fully covered by insurance or if they're uninsured.

Go deeper: Many Americans live in places with no coronavirus test sites

Go deeper

Eileen Drage O'Reilly
Sep 10, 2020 - Health

CDC official: Pandemic "explosion" of antibiotic resistance not seen

Illustration: Sarah Grillo/Axios

Despite concerns over antimicrobial resistance flourishing during the pandemic as doctors use all their tools to help patients fight COVID-19, early indications are that their efforts may not be causing a large increase, a CDC official tells Axios.

Why it matters: AMR is a growing problem, as the misuse or overuse of antibiotics creates resistant pathogens that cause more than 2.8 million infections and 35,000 deaths annually in the U.S.

Go deeper (2 min. read)Arrow
Caitlin Owens, author of Vitals
Sep 10, 2020 - Health

Young adults aren't all safe from the virus

Illustration: Annelise Capossela/Axios

Young adults, especially those with pre-existing conditions, can still have very serious cases of the coronavirus, a new study published yesterday in JAMA Internal Medicine confirms.

Why it matters: As thousands of college students around the country catch the virus, some of them are bound to require hospitalization and, tragically, perhaps even die in the coming weeks.

Go deeper (<1 min. read)Arrow
Axios
Updated Oct 7, 2020 - Health

World coronavirus updates

Expand chart
Data: The Center for Systems Science and Engineering at Johns Hopkins; Map: Axios Visuals

New Zealand now has active no coronavirus cases in the community after the final six people linked to the Auckland cluster recovered, the country's Health Ministry confirmed in an email Wednesday.

The big picture: The country's second outbreak won't officially be declared closed until there have been "no new cases for two incubation periods," the ministry said. Auckland will join the rest of NZ in enjoying no domestic restrictions from late Wednesday, Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern said, declaring that NZ had "beat the virus again."

Go deeper (1 min. read)Arrow