And Bill Gates shall save us

[Lemon Drop]

Gates Foundation announced that they will be providing home coronavirus test kits to Seattle residents. They can be mailed in for results.
Current estimates from one public health expert are 500 to 600 infected in King County, most untested. That becomes 30k in a month without extreme measures

And of course this thing is everywhere now. It's very late.

[samintx]

I can’t wait to hear what White Eyes will Tweet.

*I see his cosmetic make up face and always wonder why if he is so much a TV person that he leaves rings around his eyes UN foundationed. Like two eyes and a bed sheet.

[Filliam H. Muffman]

There was at least one research hospital/university near Seattle that said they could run 1,000 tests per day, but now I don't remember which one it was. The King County Public Health department seems to want people to go to their regular health care providers (assuming you have one). Where are the homeless supposed to go?

[sekker]

Without these DIY testers, we would have NO idea how bad it is in Washington state.

The issue in the 29 other states and DC with confirmed cases? Almost no testing.

[rjmacs]

Sending possible virus samples through the postal service sounds like a swell idea.

[Lemon Drop]

Bio specimens are sent thru the mail all the time. That's not new. They have specially developed packaging for that.

[Janit]

rjmacs wrote:
Sending possible virus samples through the postal service sounds like a swell idea.

Since the tests are nucleic acid-sequence tests, such a kit would likely involve encasing a swab in a stabilizing solution that would kill infectivity while preserving the nucleic acid. The bare nucleic acid would not be infective because it would have no way to actually get into cells to grow.

Of course, the best DYI test would be one that would react instantly, and give a +/- result on the spot. That's harder.

[rjmacs]

OK, then! Excited to hear how the first runs go....