Industrial conglomerate 3M Company is partnering with the Massachusetts Institute of Technology to develop a cheaper, quicker COVID-19 test.
Right now, test results can take anywhere from a few hours to a week. Quest Diagnostics, for instance, said the average turnaround time at its labs is currently seven days.
3M's new test would function more like a pregnancy strip, a rapid paper-based test that could be mass-produced and quickly distributed at the point of care.
"In terms of patient experience, what we're looking to do is create that low-cost, highly-accurate, simple-to-use test that would be accessible to a lot of people," Dr. John Banovetz, chief technology officer for 3M, told Cheddar.
The antigen-based test, which looks at proteins on the virus, would offer a "preliminary view" of a patient's coronavirus status — though ideally, patients would follow up with a doctor, he added.
"Our goal would be a point-of-care test, so maybe it's taken in a doctor's office. Maybe you pick it up at the pharmacy," Banovetz said.
The goal is to start producing tests by the end of summer or early fall. Once manufacturing is rolling, 3M could produce millions of tests per day, according to the company.
As cases surge across the country and many anticipate a second wave in states where the infection rate has dropped off, calls for more testing are growing.
More than 41 million tests have been reported to the CDC, with a 9 percent positivity rate, but the U.S. continues to lag behind other countries by some measures.
In the meantime, the Trump administration is relying on the private sector to meet the demand for tests, putting pressure on companies such as 3M to come up with a solution.
"We're going as quick as we can right now," he said. "Our focus is trying to get that accuracy up and in a way that we know that we can mass-produce it. That's really where 3M can help contribute to this, our ability to be able to commercialize and bring to market new ideas and innovations."
Health officials are warning of a grim winter as the Omicron variant of COVID-19 spreads rapidly across the country. New York City is the latest hotspot, with cases rising in a way the city hasn't previously seen in the pandemic. Dr. Bob Lahita, director of the Institute for Autoimmune and Rheumatic Diseases at St. Joseph Health and author of the book "Immunity Strong," joined Cheddar to discuss whether the rest of the country will follow in New York's footsteps.
Covid cases and deaths are on the rise in many parts of the country even before the Omicron variant takes hold. More than 30 states had higher seven-day averages for new cases last week than they did before Thanksgiving, according to Johns Hopkins University data, with some of the biggest increases in the Northeast. Dr. Anthony Santella, professor of Health Administration and University COVID Coordinator at the University of New Haven, joined Cheddar to discuss where we stand in the pandemic and how we can keep ourselves safe during the holidays.
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A gem company in Sri Lanka has unveiled a rare and massive gemstone weighing 683 pounds (310 kilograms) that has been certified as one of the biggest corundums ever found in the country.
