The Science behind How Coronavirus Tests Work

Jeffery DelViscio
8-10 minutes
From Scientific American
So you think you may have COVID-19, and you want to get tested.

Your first problem might be finding a test, depending on where you live and how sick you currently are.

A recent survey conducted with administrators from 323 hospitals across the United States found...

Quote: “Hospitals reported that severe shortages of testing supplies and extended waits for test results limited hospitals’ ability to monitor the health of patients and staff....”

Adding: “... they were unable to keep up with testing demands because they lacked complete kits and/or the individual components ... used to detect the virus.”

But let’s say that you can actually get a test for COVID-19.

Will antibody tests for the coronavirus really change everything?

Smriti Mallapaty
10-13 minutes
COVID-19 coronavirus antibody test kits.
More at  www.nature.com /articles/d41586-020-01115-z
Antibody tests might be used to help stem the COVID-19 pandemic — but first must overcome several hurdles.Credit: Greg Baker/AFP/Getty

British Prime Minister Boris Johnson called them a ‘game changer’. Antibody tests have captured the world’s attention for their potential to help life return to normal by revealing who has been exposed, and might now be immune, to the new coronavirus.

Dozens of biotech companies and research laboratories have rushed to produce the blood tests. And governments around the world have bought millions of kits, in the hope that they could guide decisions on when to relax social-distancing measures and get people back to work. Some have even suggested that the tests could be used as an ‘immunity passport’, giving the owner clearance to interact with others again.