Virus testing in the US is dropping, even as deaths mount
Read full article: Virus testing in the US is dropping, even as deaths mountWidespread testing is considered essential to containing the outbreak as the U.S. approaches a mammoth 5 million confirmed infections and more than 156,000 deaths out of over 700,000 worldwide. Jessica Moore of rural Newberry, South Carolina, said that after a private lab lost her COVID-19 test results in mid-July, she had to get re-tested at a pop-up site organized by the state. A number of companies are studying COVID-19 antigen tests in which you spit on a specially coated strip of paper, and if you are infected, it changes color. But the approach faces resistance in Washington, where federal regulators have required at least 80% accuracy for new COVID-19 tests. To date, the Food and Drug Administration has allowed only two COVID-19 antigen tests to enter the market.