Can you copy/paste for those who have Twitter blocked?
I'll try
PoliMath
@politicalmath
So... here's a fun thing that I actually know from, you know, talking to people and asking questions.
Why aren't we using South Korea's faster antibody test to test for COVID-19?
Well, a couple of reasons (this will take a little while) /1
Quote Tweet
PoliMath
@politicalmath
· Mar 19
- What is the typical life-cycle of a test? Where does it originate, to whom is it passed, where is it stored, who decides to provide test access?
- Why was South Korea able to use the faster antibody test? Why aren't we using that test? (I actually know this one!) /2
Show this thread
4:43 PM · Mar 19, 2020·Twitter Web App
45
Retweets
103
Likes
PoliMath
@politicalmath
·
Mar 19
Replying to
@politicalmath
Most of the S Korea spread was descended from "Patient 31" who was super-spreader. This is the one that spread it at the church, if you've heard that story. /2
Coronavirus cases have dropped sharply in South Korea. What’s the secret to its success?
A scary brush with Middle East respiratory syndrome led the country to set up the world’s most expansive testing program for COVID-19
sciencemag.org
PoliMath
@politicalmath
·
Mar 19
So S Korea has a relatively homogeneous viral population (the viruses were genetically similar to each other). Apparently (I am not deep on the details here) there is an antibody test that is pretty fast and efficient, but requires a homogenous viral pop /3
PoliMath
@politicalmath
·
Mar 19
The US, however, has seen viral introductions from a couple different places, so our viral population is NOT homogeneous and we would need different antibody tests for the different points of introduction. /4
Quote Tweet
PoliMath
@politicalmath
· Mar 16
This is fascinating, it looks like 90% of the COVID transmission in Seattle is from a single introduction in late Jan from China.
The NY intro is from Iran and San Diego intro from Europe.
https://twitter.com/trvrb/status/1239427195992305665PoliMath
@politicalmath
·
Mar 19
So we have to end up using the a RT-PCR test, which was the CDC test. The Seattle lab that we've head so much about modified their own MERS (which is a coronaviral respiratory disease, but not COVID-19) to test for COVID-19. /5
PoliMath
@politicalmath
·
Mar 19
I've been told the Roche tests are... not better, but apparently there are a lot of testing facilities that can run them, but I'm not sure what the difference is between the Roche test and the RT-PCR test /6
PoliMath
@politicalmath
·
Mar 19
That's it. That's all the stuff I know.