Abbott Labs Test?

[harbormaster]

What happened to this it was supposed to be capable of 50k tests a day in no time? Was it fake?

[SB1942]

What happened to this it was supposed to be capable of 50k tests a day in no time? Was it fake?

Are you referring to the machine that looked like a toaster?

[SB1942]

Well, here's a story from yesterday:

https://www.nwherald.com/2020/04/10/here-is-what-abbott-laboratories-five-minute-test-looks-like-and-how-it-works/d742jd8/

Most of the other stories are from two weeks ago.

[sigstroker]

50k maybe for all the machines, not just one machine by itself.

[axhoaxho]

[as_rocketman]

Not a hoax. Just a question of getting the right primers for an existing platform.

https://www.alere.com/en/home/product-details/id-now.html

You heard Dr. Birx a few days ago requesting that anyone who had one of these machines should step up and use it for testing.

Where it is along the lines of product development, distribution, and implementation, I couldn't tell you, but it need not take very long. Keep in mind though this is a point-of-care approach, so you're likely to see this rolled out in hospitals and clinics, not mass testing.

[bangel]

Pretty sure they must be running. US has done over 2.8 million tests as of today. More by far than any country.

[harbormaster]

New info

Thanks all I could find were the old stories.

Well, here's a story from yesterday:

https://www.nwherald.com/2020/04/10/here-is-what-abbott-laboratories-five-minute-test-looks-like-and-how-it-works/d742jd8/

Most of the other stories are from two weeks ago.

[cleonard]

These Abbot machines are very common. I think I remember a story that said there were 18,000 of them in the country.

It's more of a question of getting the proper setup kits to all of them and in enough quantity.

[NorcalGSG]

Part of the problem for testing is the regulations that the sample collector needs new ppe for each person tested. That's a huge limiting factor for many places because they just don't have the ppe to spare for that. It would be better if they could get some emergency clearance for keeping the same mask and face shields, and just do gloves only or something like that at least.
One one of the hcw pages they showed a sample collector booth used in Asia, basically a phone booth with sandblast cabinet type gloves that the Covid suspect people walk up to and get swabbed. I assume they maintain positive pressure with a PAPR type unit into the booth for the collector inside and somehow spray or dip the gloves between patients. There's a lot of emergency ingenuity going on right now with this fight to save lives.

[NorcalGSG]

https://www.bostonherald.com/2020/04/01/coronavirus-testing-booth-at-brigham-and-womens-hospital-reduces-ppe-keeps-docs-safe/

[harbormaster]

If they have 18,000 machines, and it takes only 5 minutes why only 50,000 tests a day?

[as_rocketman]

One test in 5 minutes does not necessarily translate into 288 tests per day. These machines were not designed for high throughput -- their use case was to be installed at a point of care facility, and handle maybe a few patients per hour.

There is also the problem of getting samples to the right place, staging materials, finding people who can run the tests properly, and the whole data infrastructure. It's an improvement but there are a lot of snags to work out with any test.

[SAN compnerd]

If they have 18,000 machines, and it takes only 5 minutes why only 50,000 tests a day?

Manufacturing ramp up. The expect to be up to 2 million a day in June.

[harbormaster]

One test in 5 minutes does not necessarily translate into 288 tests per day. These machines were not designed for high throughput -- their use case was to be installed at a point of care facility, and handle maybe a few patients per hour.

There is also the problem of getting samples to the right place, staging materials, finding people who can run the tests properly, and the whole data infrastructure. It's an improvement but there are a lot of snags to work out with any test.