drive-through testing for coronavirus, flu and RSV, currently by appointment for employees at UW Medical Center Northwest
(Photo : Reuters)



The Food and Drug Administration loosens its restriction policies for COVID-19 testing kits. Several start-ups and charities are finding ways to create their own testing kits available to the public while waiting for the government to supply enough kits. 

Due to the shortage of FDA approved testing kits, the department has allowed an emergency distribution of testing kits and grant states to authorized local laboratories to conduct their test. However, FDA warns the public that no approved at-home test kits are available at the moment. According to the FDA's spokesperson, home kits have not been granted with emergency distribution.

Testing kits from private companies and foundations

Some of the private medical companies are already working on the kits. Nurx Inc. is currently manufacturing a home test kit with the help of their lab partners. Everywell Inc. advises the public that their test kits will become available by Monday, March 23. The kits are to be prescribed and shall be sent off to a laboratory for analysis. 

Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation is also working on home testing kits for Seattle though they have not announced the date of its release. 

Today, Roche began shipping 400,000 COVID-19 test kits to laboratories. The company plans to ship another 400,000 of the SARS-CoV2 Test for COVID-19 every week across the nation. The kits are only available to medical professionals, so those who are suspected to have the said virus should seek medical attention immediately. 

Online test kits

Due to the hype on test kits, thousands of websites related to coronavirus has been registered across the globe. About 400 of the said websites indicate "testing" on their domain address. Most of which offer the test kits for profit. 

A site with domain mycoronavirustestkits.com sold 2 test kits for the price of $75. The site does not disclose much information about them but only shows a banner that states, "THE TRUTH WILL SET YOU FREE. - JESUS". The website accepts payment thru paypal and other major credit cards. 

Kirk St John, owner of mycoronavirustestkits.com and CEO of Medtech National, made a statement through a telephone interview indicating that the listing was published by mistake. He further mentioned that the company would most likely release a test kit that rules out influenza. 

Later that day, the listing was removed and replaced by an influenza test kit that costs $389 at most. 

The government's action on test kits

The government has halted the distribution of fake test kits. Last week, the Customs and Border Protection had confiscated suspected counterfeit test kits at LA International Airport. The CBP encourages the public to be more cautious when purchasing test kits, whether they are offered in person or online.

As of the moment, the US Health Department can conduct 36,800 COVID-19 testing every day. They expect the number to increase as test kits from commercial labs become available for use. 

As of today, there are 252,776 coronavirus cases across the globe. 89,060 have recovered yet 10,405 are reported dead. As the pandemic continues, the quest for finding a resolution never ceases too. 

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