The United States has reportedly started to take blood samples nationwide to determine the exact number of individuals infected with the virus by utilizing a test that works retrospectively. These latest tests are based on the serological surveys which vary from the past nasal swabs that are used for determining the presence of the virus. The lab reports specifically search for the antibodies present within the blood that shows how the person fought against the disease and their rate of recovery whether they showed symptoms or appeared symptomless. These tests serve as the focal key to reduce the lockdown and allow people with immunity to re-enter within society. Joe Bresee, the deputy in charge of incident manager for CDC reports that we have started performing tests currently so that we’ll be able to report immediately to the higher authorities.
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3 IMMEDIATE SURVEYS WHICH ARE TO BE CONDUCTED BY CDC:
He further added that the CDC would also conduct three surveys. The first would be on the individual’s blood samples who are undiagnosed in some of the most wanted states with the pandemic issue. The second survey would include the people nationwide from different states of the country and the third survey would be the one conducted on healthcare workers. We started conducting the first survey during the weekend but for the other two surveys, no specific timeline has been decided.
SEROLOGICAL SURVEY:
After the emergency approval of the FDA for the initial serological test by Cellex which is a company based in North Carolina during the last week. Stanford University on the other hand also conducted a serological survey of their own on Saturday within the city of Santa Clara, by Jay Bhattacharya who is the professor of medicine working at the university. He further explained that we have collected some fingerpick blood samples from around 2500 volunteers who were selected to represent the country and around 500 were children. He also said that the results for these blood samples will be released as soon as possible.
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STRATEGIC PLANNING BY UNITED STATES TO EVALUATE IMMUNITY IN COVID-19 PATIENTS:
The United States is working day and night to screen thousands of individuals infected with the novel coronavirus with the help of new tests which serves as a game-changer in this pandemic and might help in getting back the economy on track. Many medical companies and academic laboratories are producing these blood tests which help in identifying the immunity of the human body against the virus. Florian Krammer who is the professor of vaccinology working at Mount Sinai’s Icahn School of Medicine reported to Reuters that ultimately this antibody test will help the nation to get it back to normal. People who have developed immunity against the virus will the ones who go back to normal life immediately and start everything again. Krammer and the fellow researchers have come up with this latest antibody test within the United States against COVID-19. These tests are relatively simple and inexpensive due to which all the countries worldwide can buy it. The procedure only uses blood from fingerpick and gives results within 10-15 minutes. These tests make screening and diagnostic tests much easier. There are, however, many questions that need to be answered regarding this test that whether they are accurate, do they offer long-term immunity and whether these tests will roll out according to the infectious disease experts and researchers. For now, it is still unknown how many people are infected by the virus. When the testing goes on a wider scale, it is said by the clinicians and the public health experts that healthcare workers should be the priority.