Some very encouraging developments. There is a PCR protocol that can test 100,000 samples in a single machine run, making millions of samples per day feasible, ignoring sample collection capacity. On that front, FDA just approved (EUA, limited scope for now) a sample collection protocol relying on saliva samples rather than nasopharyngeal swabs (would mean enormous increase in sample collection capacity). The prospects for plan #1 look dramatically better.
On plan #3, I was hoping this would work as a backup or low-tech option for poor countries but it looks like most estimates tend to put asymptomatic + presymptomatic transmission at 50%+ of all transmission, which makes this pretty limited.
Some very encouraging developments. There is a PCR protocol that can test 100,000 samples in a single machine run, making millions of samples per day feasible, ignoring sample collection capacity. On that front, FDA just approved (EUA, limited scope for now) a sample collection protocol relying on saliva samples rather than nasopharyngeal swabs (would mean enormous increase in sample collection capacity). The prospects for plan #1 look dramatically better.
On plan #3, I was hoping this would work as a backup or low-tech option for poor countries but it looks like most estimates tend to put asymptomatic + presymptomatic transmission at 50%+ of all transmission, which makes this pretty limited.