The West VirginiaDepartment of Health and Human Resources (DHHR) reports as of December 14, 2020, there have been 1,321,330 total confirmatorylaboratory results received for COVID-19, with 64,394 total cases and 978deaths.
DHHR has confirmed the deaths of a 66-year old male from GrantCounty, a 79-year old male from Raleigh County, a 90-year old male fromJefferson County, a 67-year old male from Preston County, a 71-year old malefrom Berkeley County, a 95-year old female from Berkeley County, a 76-year oldfemale from Berkeley County, a 74-year old female from Berkeley County, an 86-yearold female from Berkeley County, and a 78-year old female from Kanawha County.
As we mourn the West Virginia lives lost tothis devastating virus, we must not lose sight of our power to preventadditional deaths by following public health safety measures of wearing masks, washinghands, staying home when sick, and social distancing, said Bill J. Crouch,DHHR Cabinet Secretary.
CASESPER COUNTY: Barbour (562), Berkeley (4,537),Boone (813), Braxton (172), Brooke (1,005), Cabell (3,962), Calhoun (106), Clay(193), Doddridge (173), Fayette (1,377), Gilmer (257), Grant (596), Greenbrier(924), Hampshire (631), Hancock (1,292), Hardy (524), Harrison (2,012), Jackson(910), Jefferson (1,836), Kanawha (7,099), Lewis (343), Lincoln (546), Logan(1,222), Marion (1,262), Marshall (1,660), Mason (798), McDowell (745), Mercer(1,834), Mineral (1,825), Mingo (1,132), Monongalia (4,171), Monroe (482),Morgan (468), Nicholas (503), Ohio (2,011), Pendleton (182), Pleasants (209),Pocahontas (295), Preston (1,081), Putnam (2,477), Raleigh (2,073), Randolph(905), Ritchie (256), Roane (237), Summers (327), Taylor (490), Tucker (241),Tyler (229), Upshur (639), Wayne (1,336), Webster (110), Wetzel (523), Wirt(159), Wood (3,678), Wyoming (964).
Please note that delaysmay be experienced with the reporting of information from the local healthdepartment to DHHR. As case surveillance continues at the local healthdepartment level, it may reveal that those tested in a certain county may notbe a resident of that county, or even the state as an individual in questionmay have crossed the state border to be tested.
Please visit the dashboard located at www.coronavirus.wv.gov for more information.
Free COVID-19 testing daily events scheduled fortoday, Monday, December 14, 2020:
HarrisonCounty
9:00 AM 12:00 PM, Harrison-ClarksburgHealth Department, 330 West Main Street, Clarksburg, WV (by appointment; 304-623-9308 andpre-registration: https://wv.getmycovidresult.com/)
Kanawha County
LoganCounty
Marshall County
Mason County
Mineral County
10:00 AM 6:00 PM, Keyser Health School, 1 Tornado Way, Keyser, WV 26726
OhioCounty
11:00 AM 4:00 PM, Valley Grove Volunteer Fire Department, 355Fire House Lane, Valley Grove, WV (pre-registration: https://wv.getmycovidresult.com/)
11:00 AM 4:00 PM, Warwood Fire Station #9, 1301 Richland Avenue,Wheeling, WV (pre-registration: https://wv.getmycovidresult.com/)
11:00 AM 4:00 PM, Wheeling Island Fire Station #5, 11 NorthWabash Street, Wheeling, WV (pre-registration: https://wv.getmycovidresult.com/)
Taylor County
Wayne County
10:00 AM 2:00 PM, Wayne County Health Department, 217 Kenova Avenue,Wayne, WV
Additional testing will beheld on Tuesday, December 15, 2020 in Boone, Clay, Hardy, Jackson, Mercer, Mineral,Ohio, Putnam, Taylor, and Wayne counties.
There are many ways to obtain free COVID-19 testing in WestVirginia. Please visit https://dhhr.wv.gov/COVID-19/pages/testing.aspx.
As new COVID-19 case counts and hospitalizations continue to climb rapidly, the county health department has dialed up enforcement of the 15th health directive, which contains stronger language around masking, imposes a 10 p.m. cap on hours of operation, and limits building capacities.
On Tuesday, Shelby County Health Department Director Alisa Haushalter confirmed six businesses were closed over the weekend for violating portions of the health directive.
Carolina Watershed in Downtown Memphis;Chardonnay Bistro on Hacks Cross;El Corral on Macon Road;Agavos on Walnut Grove;Legacy Bar & Grill on U.S. Hwy 70;and Smoker's Abbey on North Germantown Parkway were all closed over the weekend, the health department confirmed.
It's unclear how long the businesses will stay closed, but recent closures of restaurantsand venueslike In Love Memphis that repeatedly violated the health directive lasted for two weeks.
The health department would not elaborate on specific violations, but a department spokesperson said the closures occurred after repeated, documented violations.
The businesses can petition the health department to reopen, but must first submit a plan for coming into compliance with the health directive.
Of the thousands of inspections carried out since the start of the pandemic, Haushalter saidmost businesses in Shelby County are doing everything they can to stay in compliance with the health directive, but"there are always a few businesses that are not compliant."
Weathersbee: In Love showed COVID-19 is killing holiday galas. Better that than killing us.
Corrective measures from the health department in response to directive violations can vary. Sometimes, it's a matter of the health department providing education and technical assistance so the business can be brought into compliance.
Other times, Haushalter said, businesses have to close.
When asked if tighter business restrictions could be underway, Haushalter said the health department has begun drafting a new health directive, but for now, the focus of the new directive will be clarifying language considered vague or confusing by business owners, particularly around events.
On Tuesday, neither Haushalter nor Randolph indicated tighter restrictions were imminent, as new case counts continue to surge in part from Thanksgiving gatherings.
Instead, the public health officials reiterated a message they haveattempted to hammer home consistently in the course of the pandemic individual responsibility.
"Truthfully fellow citizens, it's up to you as an individual to determine what steps you will take to ensure that you are safe, that you are healthy, and that you do not become infected with the virus," Randolph said.
As of Tuesday, the seven-day average for new cases in Shelby County rose to 670 per day. Hospitals, now strained from a surge in patients with COVID-19, collectively have 3% of intensive care rooms and 9% of acute care rooms left.
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State data showed all three deaths involved Anchorage residents.
In total, 178 Alaskans and one nonresident with COVID-19 have died since the pandemic began here in March. Alaskas overall death rate per capita is among the lowest in the country, but officials say its difficult to compare Alaska to other states because of its vast geography and vulnerable health care system.
By Tuesday, there were 133 people with COVID-19 hospitalized statewide and another seven people in hospitals who were suspected to have the virus. In total, 14.6% of people hospitalized in Alaska had COVID-19.
Throughout the state there were 38 staffed adult intensive care unit beds left open. In Anchorage, where the states sickest patients often end up, only three of 72 intensive care unit beds were available.
While stretched hospital staffing has remained a significant concern, Anchorage Health Department director Heather Harris said in a recent media briefing that hospitals do have the capacity to shift their staffing around if they run out of ICU beds.
New virus cases, hospitalizations and deaths have been on the rise statewide for weeks, but Tuesdays daily case count was the lowest Alaska has seen since Oct. 23, when 239 cases were recorded. The new low came two weeks after Anchorage entered a month-long, modified version of a hunker-down aimed at bringing case counts down and protecting hospital capacity.
Meanwhile, thousands of the first doses of a vaccine developed by Pfizer and BioNTech have arrived in Alaska. The doses will be distributed first to hospital-based front-line health care workers followed by staff and residents of long-term care facilities beginning this week. Next up will be EMS and fire personnel providing medical services, community health aides and practitioners and people required to perform vaccinations.
It is unclear exactly when the general public will have access to a vaccine, but likely late spring or summer, health officials have said.
Of the 277 new cases reported in Alaska residents Tuesday, there were 125 in Anchorage, plus four in Chugiak and two in Eagle River; two in Homer; four in Kenai; one in Nikiski; one in Seward; one in Soldotna; one in Sterling; 24 in Kodiak; 17 in Fairbanks, plus nine in North Pole; two in Delta Junction; one in Tok; two in Big Lake; eight in Palmer; 24 in Wasilla; 10 in Utqiagvik; one in Douglas; nine in Juneau; one in Ketchikan; five in Sitka; one in Skagway; two in Bethel; one in Dillingham; and one in Hooper Bay.
Among communities smaller than 1,000 people not named to protect privacy, there were two in the the Cordova Census Area; one in the Fairbanks North Star Borough; one in the Nome Census Area; two in the North Slope Borough; two in the Bethel Census Area; one in Bristol Bay plus Lake and Peninsula area; and nine in the Kusilvak Census Area.
Of the seven new cases reported in nonresidents, there were five in Anchorage and two in an unidentified region of the state.
While people might get tested more than once, each case reported by the state health department represents only one person.
It is not clear how many of the people who tested positive were showing symptoms. The CDC estimates about a third of people with coronavirus infections are asymptomatic.
The statewide test positivity rate was 6.14% over the last week, after reaching a peak of over 9% in mid-November. Health officials said that a positivity rate above 5% can indicate widespread community transmission.
Keith and Melanie Hubbard, who portray Santa and Mrs. Claus in Oklahoma greet their grandchildren in 2019. Rachel Hubbard/KOSU hide caption
Keith and Melanie Hubbard, who portray Santa and Mrs. Claus in Oklahoma greet their grandchildren in 2019.
The decisions for the people who work as Santa and Mrs. Claus this year are difficult. This high-risk group is trying to navigate keeping the Christmas spirit alive while staying safe amid the pandemic. It's not easy.
For many families, the tradition of the Christmas photo with Santa is an important tradition that is missing this year, but in my family that sense of loss is pervasive because we celebrate the holiday season year-round.
My parents, Keith and Melanie Hubbard, portray Santa and Mrs. Claus. This year, they are experiencing the emotions many of us are. They are tired, sad and a little disoriented because the Christmas season isn't normal.
Over the past decade, the whole Kris Kringle thing has become part of their identity. They use peppermint-scented soap, have stockings hung on the windowsill and wear red year-round.
Because my dad, 62, looks like Santa, it's difficult to go anywhere with him without kids running up to him at the grocery store or while he's pumping gas, which makes it difficult to maintain social distance.
"What do you say to a child that runs up and hugs you? 'Oh no, get away?' No, you hug them back." That's what my mom, 60, said in a recent conversation about how they're dealing with the dilemma.
Santa and Mrs. Claus show presents to children at the 2019 Autism Canadian Valley Christmas party in Yukon, Okla. Rachel Hubbard/KOSU hide caption
Santa and Mrs. Claus show presents to children at the 2019 Autism Canadian Valley Christmas party in Yukon, Okla.
There have been a lot of difficult conversations with my parents this year. My two siblings and I want to protect them. We know they are at increased risk for COVID-19 because the prerequisites for the Santa job are to be grandfatherly and overweight.
Stephen Arnold is president and CEO of the International Brotherhood of Real Bearded Santas (IBRBS). He says at least three of the organization's 2,200 members have already died from the coronavirus. (One in Florida and two in Texas.)
"That has created consternation amongst ourselves. Whether we cancel the season altogether, whether we ignore the warnings or whether we find a compromise," Arnold said.
Many people who work as Santa depend on what they make as the income they use to pay for basic necessities including rent and food. According to Arnold, there is no typical or average rate for Santa salaries.
"Huge range," he said. "We have many Santas that either take no money but rather perform all charitable work or they accept donations for a favorite charity. Then we have Santas in key markets that do advertising, both print and video, that make well over $100, 000 [per year]. Hourly rates vary widely by market too, with small rural areas supporting low rates of $35-$50/hour and larger markets where $250-$400/hour are not uncommon."
Arnold said there may be variations in the type of work, length of appearance, personal Vs. business, and date and time.
"Typically, the last three days before Christmas and the three weekends before are at elevated rates and then there is Christmas Eve where rates are 2X to 4X higher and substantial tips are not uncommon," Arnold said.
'We are all in a high-risk category'
According to an informal survey IBRBS did of its membership, about one quarter has decided to proceed with Christmas appearances without masks or social distance. Another quarter has canceled their seasons altogether, and the rest have landed somewhere in the middle.
While Dr. Anthony Fauci said earlier this year that the real Santa isn't susceptible to COVID-19, the people who portray him are.
"I don't have to tell you that we are all in a high risk category and I'm sure I don't have to tell you that you need to take precautions so that you don't become ill. This is not something to play around with," Arnold told members in a recent newsletter.
He, however, said this disruption created by the COVID-19 pandemic has led to a lot of innovation including virtual visits, giant plastic snow globes and other events like a recent drive-through event my parents did where they handed donuts to kids by using giant sticks. All of this is designed to keep the people who play Santa and Mrs. Claus socially distanced and safe.
My dad is not a mall Santa. He and my mom live in Cordell, a small town about 100 miles west of Oklahoma City. Working in rural Oklahoma, my parents spend their time visiting with people at community events, in nursing homes and at schools. Most years on Christmas Eve, dad is visiting people in their homes. People just expect to see him around town.
"They've always seen Santa, and he's always been around when they need him, and he can just come by their house," my dad said. "It's just not the same this year."
A resident of the Cordell Christian Home in Cordell, Okla., kisses Mrs. Claus at the annual holiday party in 2017. Rachel Hubbard/KOSU hide caption
A resident of the Cordell Christian Home in Cordell, Okla., kisses Mrs. Claus at the annual holiday party in 2017.
'That's not what Santa is'
He and my mom tried to establish ground rules to stay safe from COVID-19. We even talked about it as a family. They said children would not be allowed to sit on their laps, they wouldn't hug people or shake hands. With these rules, they agreed to do a few events. When they arrived, however, they found the rules were nearly impossible to enforce.
"When you're taking pictures, people want to put their arms around you and that kind of stuff. It's been very difficult because you have to be standoffish, and that's not what Santa is," he said.
All of it is disappointing. My mom said they feel depressed that they can't be out in the community.
They also feel like they're letting people down. Kids often bring my dad a letter or cup their hand to his ear and whisper things they wouldn't tell anyone else.
"You'll have one child, and they'll be waiting there patiently and quietly and when they get on your lap and you say, 'What do you want this year?' Some of them will say, 'I sure would like something to eat.' It just breaks your heart," my dad said.
Because these kids will tell Santa about their deepest needs, my parents say they are part of an informal trauma response network. In a normal year, they would be able to talk to the teacher or minister nearby to get the child the help they need.
The social distancing required to prevent the spread of COVID-19 means this part of the response network is broken, but my dad and many other people who work as Santa are still trying to meet kids where they are.
In a recent digital event, children were able to ask Santa questions. While there were questions about what kind of cookies Santa likes (sugar cookies with lots of sprinkles) and whether Rudolph always leads the sleigh (yes, his nose lights the way), kids also expressed anxiety about what was happening.
My dad told them this: "I know some of you are having to do school at home, and your parents might not be working right now. I just want to let you know that Christmas is going to be OK. Everyone is going to make it; we're going to make it through this."
While it may be a new normal, my parents are hopeful for next year. They are already booking in-person events for the 2021 holiday season.
Employees of Cape Cod Healthcare have officially become the first people on Cape Cod to receive the COVID-19 vaccine.
At 3:30 PM on Tuesday, December 15, 20 employees at Falmouth Hospital and 30 at Cape Cod Hospital received their first doses of the Pfizer vaccine. Cape Cod Healthcare president and chief executive officer Michael K. Lauf said the hospitals have received a total of 2,925 first doses of the vaccine.
Mr. Lauf said he hopes all the doses they have will be given by Christmas to healthcare workers who work closely with COVID-19 patients, for a total of about 400 people vaccinated daily.
This will only be the first dose of the vaccine. A second dose will have to be received in about a month for it to be effective.
The Pfizer vaccine needs to be kept at below-freezing temperatures. Mr. Lauf said each hospital has a freezer onsite to store the vaccine appropriately.
Workers at Falmouth Hospital prepare to administer the first round of COVID-19 vaccinations. The first people to be vaccinated are healthcare workers who work closely with COVID-19 patients.
The vaccination timeline in Massachusetts runs in three phases, starting with healthcare workers.
The first phase will also include employees at long-term care and assisted living facilities, police and fire personnel, people in congregate care facilities and home-based healthcare workers. This phase will run until about February.
The second phase is slated to run from February through April and includes people with two or more underlying conditions, early childhood educators, transit workers, grocery workers, utility workers, food and agriculture workers, sanitation workers, people who work in public works and public health, adults over the age of 65, and then people with one underlying condition.
The last phase includes the general population and is currently expected to start in April.
(WSIL) -- Here's the latest breakdown of COVID-19 impacts according to local health departments.
Egyptian Health Department: 52 new positives
Franklin-Williamson Bi-Bounty Health Department: 2 new deaths, 87 new positives
Deaths: One female in her 70s and one female in her 90s. They both resided in Franklin County.
Hamilton County Health Department: 8 new positives
Jackson County Health Department: 1 new death, 25 new positives
Death is a male in his 90s
Jefferson County Health Department: 68 new positives
Note: This includes data that could not be reported on Monday due to technical issues
Perry County, IL Health Department: 6 new deaths, 32 new positives
Deaths: 1 male in his 70s, 2 females in their 80s, 2 females in their 90s and 1 male in his 90s.
Southern 7 Health Department: 2 new deaths, 64 new positives
Deaths: One female in her 50s and a male in his 60s in Massac County
Vaccines are proven to reduce deaths and help end pandemics, but the historic speed that the coronavirus vaccines have been developed has made some people hesitant to get them. In this video from ABC News, scientists and researchers discuss how opinions of vaccines have changed over time and what it will take for Americans to feel comfortable getting a COVID-19 vaccine.
HAMPTON, Va. (WAVY) As the number of coronavirus cases continue to rise in Hampton Roads, the Peninsula Health District wants to get the word out about several upcoming COVID-19 testing events.
According to peninsula health officials, the demand for testing has increased dramatically since Thanksgiving.
The following testing events are all FREE and are available to ages 12 and older, except where noted with an asterisk (*). Starred events are open to all ages.
Testing will be available during the scheduled times, or as long as supplies last.
The City of Hampton is a co-sponsor of the testing event at the convention center. Due to the expected number of people at this location, organizers said everyone attending the event must remain in their vehicle.
The health district partnered with Mako Medical, a private laboratory, for the event at the Hampton Roads Convention Center. Test results are expected between 48 and 72 hours after the samples get to the labs.
Check the Peninsula Health District Facebook page for updates, including potential weather cancellations.
A few weekends ago, while trying to convince my 4-year-old son that pants are still required for afternoon hikes, my pocket buzzed with a text message that canceled everything.
COVID19 Community Tracing Collaborative: We have information about the status of your test. We need to speak with you and will call you back.
Having written about efforts to trace people exposed to Covid-19, I knew what it meant. Sure enough, a few hours later, a contact tracer called to deliver the bad news: Id tested positive. She told me I needed to isolate, and she asked for the names and phone numbers of those Id been in close contact with so that they could be alerted.
Read all of our coronavirus coverage here.
It was worrying of coursebut also baffling. I had no symptoms, to my knowledge I hadnt been near anyone sick, and Im always careful about mask-wearing, handwashing, and social distancing.
Id barely left the house in weeks, in fact. As I explained to the tracer, the only interaction Id had with anyone outside my family bubble in the past week was meeting an old friend, but that was outside, both of us wearing masks and staying at least 6 feet apart. My son is in daycare, and weve been in a bubble with another family whose child also attends. But his school has introduced all sorts of precautions, with teachers and parents voluntarily testing regularly, a new air filtration system, and countless cleaning and safe-distancing protocols. It all seemed like a shocking reminder of how sneaky the virus really is.
After a few days pacing my hotel room, however, I was less sure. By then, my wife and son had both received several negative results; my friend and the other family had too, along with about two dozen parents and kids at the daycare.
I took a second test three days after the first, and the results came back overnight: negative. At my doctors suggestion, I took a third, three days after that at a different location. That too came back all clear. As per the guidelines at the time from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, I remained in quarantine for two weeks. But increasingly it felt like maybe something had gone wrong.
I began to wonder what it means to test positive. A Covid test is not a binary thing. There is no single, standard way to detect the virus; different labs set their own thresholds for signaling a positive result. Some experts now think that the sensitivity of a test, and how much virus it detects, should be factored into behavioral guidelines and the public health response.
My initial test was at a drive-through site run by the city of Cambridge, Massachusetts. A swab from my nose went from there to the Broad Institute, a biomedical research center created by Harvard and MIT that converted its genomics lab into a Covid-19 testing facility in March.
The Broad uses a technique known as polymerase chain reaction (PCR) to detect viral genetic material in a sample. A PCR test typically takes a day or more to produce a result, but it is considered the gold standard of Covid testing, because its so good at picking up minuscule fragments of the virus. Rapid tests, which detect specific proteins on the surface of the virus, are cheaper and faster, but they are less accurate than PCR and work best when someone has high levels of the virus.
Testing is not a foolproof strategy to allow anyone to go about their normal daily lives without also using the other mitigation strategies.
Matthew Binnicker, Mayo Clinic
A PCR Covid test involves preparing a sample using chemical reagents to isolate fragments of RNA and enzymes to generate complementary strands of DNA. The lab then amplifies this DNA by adding compatible strands carrying fluorescent markers that break off and activate after binding. This process is repeated over and over. If the virus is present, then the chamber containing the sample should start to glow.
The number of cycles required to trigger a result is crucial. The more virus someone is carrying, the fewer cycles needed; more cycles mean the patient likely has only a low level of infection. Labs generally do not disclose the number of cycles required to get a resultonly whether or not there is one. Broad uses 40 cycles as the limit for its tests, as recommended by the CDC. If the sample doesnt glow by 40 cycles, the result is considered negative. But some other labs use different thresholds.
A new at-home test for the coronavirus has been approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration. The test will cost about $30 and will be available over-the-counter, according to the company who makes it, Ellume. Ellume Health hide caption
A new at-home test for the coronavirus has been approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration. The test will cost about $30 and will be available over-the-counter, according to the company who makes it, Ellume.
The U.S. Food and Drug Administration on Tuesday authorized the first coronavirus test that people will be able to buy at a local store without a prescription and use for immediate results at home to find out if they're positive or negative.
The test will cost about $30 and be available by January, according to the Australian company that makes it, Ellume.
The FDA had previously authorized other tests that let people avoid long lines by collecting a sample themselves at home. But those tests require people to send the sample to a lab and wait for the results. Another recently authorized test doesn't have to be sent off to a lab, but it requires a prescription to get it.
The new test is the first that people will be able to buy without a prescription at a local store and do entirely at home on their own. It takes about five minutes to collect the sample and produces results within 15 minutes.
"Today's authorization is a major milestone in diagnostic testing for COVID-19," FDA Commissioner Stephen Hahn said in a statement announcing the authorization.
The test kit includes a special swab that enables users to collect a sample from just inside their nose. Because it can be used on adults and children as young as 2 years old, the swab comes with a special adapter that shortens the length when swabbing youngsters.
Users add a few drops of liquid to the sample and place it into a small plastic device that looks like a home pregnancy test. Results are wirelessly transmitted to a smartphone app within about 15 minutes.
"This is the first test which is really designed to be a true at-home test yourself and obtain a result," Sean Parsons, the company's CEO, told NPR in an interview before the authorization.
"This could be used for people to test themselves, for example, before going to a sporting event or a concert or going to a church to decrease the chance that they spread it other people," Parsons says.
The company, which received about $30 million from the National Institutes of Health to ramp up production capacity, will be able to produce about 100,000 tests a day by January, Parsons says. By March, production should increase to about 250,000 tests a day. By June, productions should hit 1 million a day.
Testing experts welcome the authorization, but some note that the cost and limit on production capacity will restrict the impact the test will have on controlling the spread of the virus.
"It will be a game-changer, I think, to help people quickly identify if their symptoms are due to COVID," says Dr. Michael Mina, an infectious disease specialist at the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health. "But from the perspective of truly stopping or massively slowing this pandemic, this test isn't designed for that."
The technology the test uses detects proteins from the virus called antigens. The most commonly used tests, known as PCR tests, detect genetic material from the virus.
Mina has been advocating for the FDA to approve much simpler, less expensive antigen tests that could be produced in the tens of millions per day.
To obtain the authorization, Ellume evaluated the test on samples from 198 adults and children in five states. The test is 96% accurate, the study shows, according to the FDA and the company.
But the FDA and others note that antigen tests tend to be less accurate than PCR tests and may miss more infected people, giving false negative results.
"What you worry about is telling somebody, 'No, you don't have COVID,' when in fact they do. And if that was the case, they could continue to spread it," says Dr. Gary Procop, a testing expert at the Cleveland Clinic.
Procop says the test may be even more likely to incorrectly say someone is infected, i.e., a false positive, when they're really not, which can prompt them to isolate themselves unnecessarily.
"We don't want to take surgeons out of surgery suites and ICU nurses out of the ICU based on false-positive results," Procop says.
In announcing the authorization, the FDA acknowledged the test's potential shortcomings but stressed the advantages of speed and convenience.
"The fact that it can be used completely at home and return results quickly means that it can play an important role in response to the pandemic," said Dr. Jeff Shuren, director of FDA's Center for Devices and Radiological Health, in the FDA's announcement.
