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During this time, we’ve helped multiple companies generate the data needed to move their products through the Food and Drug Administration’s Emergency Use Authorization process and into commercial development. We’re part of a team at UMass Chan Medical School that has been studying COVID-19 molecular, or PCR, and antigen test performance over the past two years.
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The power behind widely available over-the-counter testing is that people can quickly and conveniently know their infection status early on to prevent spreading the virus to others. While home tests provide a quick, accurate result, the flip side is that many test results are no longer reported to health authorities. High rates of infection in Europe and Asia, along with the continued emergence of new sub-variants, such as omicron BA.4 and BA.5, raise concerns that another surge could be on the way.Įven though demand for COVID-19 tests greatly overwhelmed supply earlier in the pandemic, rapid home tests are more available today. is experiencing another uptick in the number of COVID-19 cases. The following essay is reprinted with permission from The Conversation, an online publication covering the latest research.Īs of May 2022, the U.S.
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