Generally, the “cases” have to be tested and under care.
You would not use the high end stuff on someone with the flu. It would be a waste of resources.
I have a question, three actually:
My crude understanding is that the CDC test employs an extra step to reduce false positives (and maybe false negatives too.) Apparently the “simpler” test or tests result in many more errors. But either the CDC test is much harder to produce or run, or both. (Cost might be a factor, but I’d think that even with tests in the tens of thousands, that’s not really the big concern. 100k tests @ $1000 ea. is “only” 1 hundred million dollars.
1) Can someone further explain and correct the above as needed, without getting so heavily into tech jargon that only those well versed in the field can understand it?
2) There should be a reasonable estimate of error frequency for the simpler tests by now - does anyone know what it is?
3) Has anyone (gov’t, outside expert, etc.) guessed at the time frame for the US to come up with 10k or 100k of either type test kit?