Posted on 05/13/2020 10:34:30 AM PDT by SeekAndFind
Abbott Laboratories is rolling out a new test that can tell whether people have had the novel coronavirus.
The test detects antibodies that your body creates to fight off the virus, and Abbott said it'll be able to ship almost 1 million of the tests this week, according to a company announcement.
They'll be shipped to laboratories across the country and used with Abbott equipment many of them already possess, according to the company. The machines can run 100-200 tests per hour.
Abbott said it plans to be able to produce 4 million tests in April and 20 million in June. The kits find antibodies in coronavirus-positive people 100% of the time, and find no antibodies in coronavirus-negative people 99% of the time, according to a study conducted by the company. The metrics are called sensitivity and specificity, respectively.
Abbott is among the biggest healthcare companies to produce antibody tests so far, according to data compiled by the Center for Health Security at Johns Hopkins. With the ability to make up to 20 million tests by the summer, Abbott could bring some relief to a market crowded with unverified kits and international manufacturers with less ability to scale.
Detecting virus 'months and possibly years' after exposure
Antibody tests, otherwise known as serology tests, find antibodies in the blood designed to fight off infection. People can produce them after coming into contact with the coronavirus, even if they never develop symptoms.
Other types of diagnostics on the market look for current infections, typically by collecting samples from the airways, and looking for signs of the coronavirus. Abbott, for instance, has a test that can tell in about 15 minutes whether someone is currently infected with the coronavirus.
(Excerpt) Read more at msn.com ...
everyone will test positive so back to lockdown hell..
Oh no, the powers that be need to stop this. Can’t have that denominator getting any bigger or we may have to end the shutdown.
Back to the future...
“everyone will test positive so back to lockdown hell..”
If they test positive they have immunity.
So no point in maintaining the Lockdown.
RE: Seems a little dated?
The article is dated for today based on the timestamp.
can’t wait for the results to start rolling in.
RE: Oh no, the powers that be need to stop this. Can’t have that denominator getting any bigger or we may have to end the shutdown.
There’s still the issue of testing accuracy as an NYU study of Abbott Labs testing casts doubts on it.
See here:
TITLE:
Abbott Test Still Misses Many Covid Cases, NYU Study Says
May 11 2020
Today, Abbott gained EUA for our Alinity i COVID-19 antibody test and we continue to ramp up production of our COVID-19 tests across our four platforms and ship to more customers, helping healthcare providers on the front lines battle this pandemic.
Here’s an update:
ID NOW – Our rapid, portable testing instrument used in urgent care clinics, hospital emergency departments, and physicians’ offices
We have shipped more than 1.7 million of our rapid ID NOW tests to all 50 states, Washington DC, Puerto Rico and the Pacific Islands. The majority of these tests have been sent to outbreak hotspots and we’ve asked that customers prioritize frontline health care workers and first responders.
We’re currently manufacturing 50,000 tests per day, plan to increase ID NOW manufacturing capacity to 2 million tests a month by June and are working to expand beyond that.
that.
m2000 – Our large, high-volume laboratory instrument
We have shipped more than 2 million tests to customers across the U.S. We’re also shipping these tests to customers throughout the world.
There are approximately 200 m2000 instruments in hospital, academic center and reference labs throughout the U.S.
Antibody tests – Our lab-based antibody blood tests to help determine if a person was previously infected with the virus that causes COVID-19.
We have shipped more than 7.2 million ARCHITECT tests to customers across the U.S. We also recently announced CE Mark for the ARCHITECT test and are shipping to several other countries.
Our AlinityTM i COVID-19 antibody test just received U.S. FDA Emergency Use Authorization, and we’ve started shipping the tests to our customers.
Abbott Receives FDA Emergency Use Authorization for COVID-19 Antibody Blood Test on Alinity™ i System
- Data shows reliable results with 99.6% specificity and 100% sensitivity for patients tested 14 days after symptoms began
- Abbott plans to ship nearly 30 million antibody tests globally in May across its ARCHITECT and Alinity i platforms and will have capacity for 60 million in June
- Abbott expects to submit for CE Mark for its Alinity i SARS-CoV-2 IgG test this week and will initiate global shipments immediately
- This is Abbott’s fourth COVID-19 test to receive FDA EUA, helping to provide hospitals and labs across the U.S. with broad, reliable molecular and antibody testing during this pandemic
Antibodies would count as a new “case” . Case harvesting. Bigger numbers = bigger lockdowns
If this Coronavirus is as bad as we are told it is why would you need a test to see if you had it?
This test is for antibodies. Aka have you already had it and have developed the immunity.
Again, gotta keep that denominator low. Every antibody test so far has shown healthy percentages of antibodies. But they bury or try to redirect attention away from that as it proves the lockdown is not only a joke but was never needed in the first place.
Sensitivity and specificity are 100 and 99%, supposedly. Sounds good to me, remains to be seen if real.
RE: Sensitivity and specificity are 100 and 99%, supposedly. Sounds good to me, remains to be seen if real.
What accounts for this news that’s causing their stocks to drop today?
See here:
TITLE:
Abbott Test Still Misses Many Covid Cases, NYU Study Says
That is good news. Once we can verify people have had it, we shouldn't have to worry about them catching it or spreading it.
Who is paying for each of us to take this “test”???
I certainly have no extra funds to pay anything-—nor to even drive from my rural location to be accessible to the test.
Our county in Californicator land is supposedly providing free antibody tests.
However, if you are over 60 and come from a nice zip code, you don’t qualify for a free test.
Your response re posted below is the probable reason. They don’t want to document that a lot of us, the supposedly fragile people (aged 60 to 80+) had this virus and survived.
“This test is for antibodies. Aka have you already had it and have developed the immunity.
Again, gotta keep that denominator low. Every antibody test so far has shown healthy percentages of antibodies. But they bury or try to redirect attention away from that as it proves the lock down is not only a joke but was never needed in the first place.”
I see it a different way. From what I have read, these antibody tests are reacting to antibodies for any coronavirus, including the common cold. They've been giving too many false positives for Corona Virus that isn't Covid 19.
It's making it look like "everybody had it", when in fact that may not actually be true.
I hope this new test is accurate and specific to Covid 19.
It’s old news. Follow the links back to here. Even then, it was older news.
https://www.businessinsider.com/companies-making-coronavirus-immunity-tests-serology-blood-2020-4
It’s likely that the Abbot test also detected common cold coronaviruses, as other tests did. So, many positives.
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