“That means that when an outbreak starts in a school or a nursing home or wherever in the future, we don’t have to close things down. Such a strategy would allow society to function close to normal and avoid inundating the health care system to the point of collapse, as happened earlier in the pandemic, he added. He pointed to the virus’ continued spread among the unvaccinated and the potential waning of vaccine-derived immunity among elderly who were dosed early in the campaign as potential drivers.Įven in the case of another surge, vaccination of the most vulnerable combined with rapid tests would help snuff out outbreaks when they number just a few cases and eliminate the need for more business and school closures, Mina said. That renewed rise prompted Centers for Disease Control and Prevention Director Rochelle Walensky, a former professor of medicine at Harvard Medical School and Massachusetts General Hospital, to issue repeated warnings - including confessing a sense of “impending doom” - that premature easing of restrictions combined with the spread of a more contagious variant threatens to lead to a fourth surge here similar to that already under way in Europe.Įven if the current rise in cases doesn’t result in a surge now, Mina said we could see a leap next fall, albeit one not as severe as this past fall and winter. “The best way to combat spread is to give people the tools to know that they are infectious in real time.”Ĭonsortium experts note that higher participation in inoculations will be needed Chan School of Public Health’s Center for Communicable Disease Dynamics, said in a statement after the approval. “We know that frequent testing with rapid results is critical because anyone can be exposed to this virus and not realize it until after they have become infectious,” Mina, a member of the Harvard T.H. The North Carolina and Tennessee trials will provide residents with free kits and ask them to test themselves three times a week for four to six weeks. In addition to the FDA’s approval Wednesday of Abbott’s BinaxNOW and Quidel’s QuickVue rapid antigen tests for over-the-counter sale, Mina also hailed two new government-sponsored trials that approximate the at-home testing strategy he has supported. “This is great news that these regulatory hurdles have come down,” said Mina, who is also associate medical director in clinical microbiology at Brigham and Women’s Hospital. Importantly, that covers the period when people may be asymptomatic and unknowingly infecting others, he added. The tests provide results within minutes, he said on Thursday, and are particularly good at detecting infection during the 10 or so days when most people are contagious. One of them is Michael Mina, assistant professor of epidemiology, who has called on federal regulators for much of the past year to clear the rapid antigen tests, arguing that widespread, frequent use of the diagnostic has the potential to stop outbreaks early and keep case numbers down. The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) approved inexpensive, at-home coronavirus tests for over-the-counter sales this week, adding a potentially powerful weapon to the nation’s pandemic-fighting arsenal that experts say will likely still be needed despite increasing numbers of vaccinated Americans.
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