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by 1998v2 2268 days ago
A 15 minute test could be more easily done before boarding a flight for example.

I'm not sure if it is really necessary either but mentally I'm at the point where I think we should just fire all available bullets at this thing, as they become available.
2 comments
ajmurmann 2268 days ago
I think where you are going with pre-flight testing. Even if we get numbers way down by containment measures like a complete shut down, the virus will still be there and we will need to very actively test and trace (see below article). For that to work, fast test will be invaluable. Testing everyone who is traveling or going to large events or even better just going to a grocery store would really help to get back to something that's somewhat normal without having to shut everything down again periodically or losing millions of people in the process.

https://medium.com/@tomaspueyo/coronavirus-the-hammer-and-th...

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bamboozled 2268 days ago
If you had a plane with 200 passengers and two machines at the gate, this would take an additional 25 minutes to board the flight to test everyone, assuming there is no prep, which I’m sure there is. So realistically probably an hour.

It seems like a great idea in theory, but in practice? I’m not so sure.

Considering you can have the disease and present no symptoms but be contagious, you’d have to test everyone. I guess it is better than nothing in some cases.

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supportlocal4h 2268 days ago
Are you joking? This test could be done in less than the time it took me to take off my belt, my shoes, half my clothes, then empty my pockets, then pose for the body scanner, then get the wand, then the pat down, then recover my belongings and re-dress. That was my last experience at the airport.

You're complaining that a 15 minute covid test is just too much?

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bamboozled 2268 days ago
To start with, calm down!

I am not complaining. I'm speculating on the usefulness of thi s given that there is already a fair bit of overhead with boarding a plane in 2020 as opposed to say getting on a train.

There are a LOT of flights that happen each day, If you add up all the time combined, this would actually add a bit of overhead to an already rather long airport check-in process.

Not to mention the obvious which is that, if flights are still running at full pace, well you still have a lot of potentially infected people gathering in a rather confined area (airport), which is not really a good idea anyway.

This is obviously useful for something like triaging at a hospital, will wee see it at a check-in gate or at a bus stop? I doubt it.

Also that's clearly a lie it will take less time than for you to take off your belt, it clearly says it takes up to 15 minutes for a result. Don't talk nonsense.

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brokenkebab 2268 days ago
Just two words: cost and benefit can help you to understand the value behind quicker tests.

Flights are getting cancelled already, and some countries closed their airports at all. There are places where you can get stuck at a border crossing, or a roadblock if you have no proof of a recent medical checks. On this background any tests which add 15 min, or even 1 hr overhead sounds more like a solution, not a problem.

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40four 2267 days ago
No after thinking about it, I think @bamboozled is right. Testing everyone trying to board a flight, or cross a roadblock is not a feasible use case for this device. They will not be used like this. It isn’t a magic wand you can wave, there is a real bottleneck at the hardware level.

It’s not 15 mins from the time you get swabbed. It’s 15 once it’s prepared and put in the machine. Then there will be cleanup time after. Either way, even if you could run them through assembly line style every 15 minutes, 1 machine would take a whole 24 hours to process 100 people.

Another commenter @nkrumm pointed out multiple good use cases. I think they will be used to allow health care workers to make rapid decisions, for specific patients, likely in emergency situations. Not to process large volumes.

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brokenkebab 2267 days ago
>whole 24 hours to process >100 people.

That's excellent compared to inability to leave an area, or forced two weeks quarantine upon arrival, isn't?

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