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> An FDA spokesperson explains that anything that requires a person to take samples themselves, at home, raises concerns. For example, the agency wants to ensur
by vorpalhex 6y ago
> An FDA spokesperson explains that anything that requires a person to take samples themselves, at home, raises concerns. For example, the agency wants to ensure that samples remain stable if they end up spending a long time in a hot vehicle on the way to a lab.
Not exactly a baffling secret. At home sample collection wasn't included in the guidelines, sounds like FDA is evaluating and may still give a go ahead.
- Lazare 6y agoI think that point was addressed fairly well in the linked article.
- vorpalhex 6y agoThat would be why I quoted the linked article. That doesn't excuse the clickbait headline.
- James_Henry 6y agoI think that the article made it clear that there is such a great need for at-home specimen collection that it is baffling that the FDA is going so slow.
- vorpalhex 6y ago1. I take a sample collection at home, as an average-person 2. I leave it on my hot porch for a few days before FedEx picks it up, the sample is invalid 3. Lab tests sample, calls me and tells me I'm clear even when I'm actually sick 4. I go to my favorite bar and decide to intimately swing dance with all the patrons, causing a super spreader event The only thing worse than not having a test is having a faulty test. The FDA is very worried about faulty tests, or in this case, bad sample collection leading to faulty tests.
- djsumdog 6y agoYea it seems pretty clear to me. If samples degrade during transport, you could get false negatives. I can understand the FDAs concern here.
- makomk 6y agoIt's not that baffling or secret at all. The only baffling part is how they thought the FDA's specific ban on doing at-home testing under this provision wasn't actually a ban on at-home testing because people were only taking the samples at home, as though this wasn't explicitly the exact, specific thing this ban was created to stop, and how Nature are going along with this narrative.
- epistasis 6y agoLabCorps has been selling at-home collection kits according to this May 12 article: https://news.yahoo.com/labcorp-expands-availability-home-sample-155040098.html https://news.yahoo.com/labcorp-expands-availability-home-sam... If the scientists who have been combing through the documentation were baffled, and Nature News found it baffling enough to report on it, I'm going to need at least an appeal to authority of some sort to dismiss their views on this. Nature News is extremely reliable on these things, and does not do clickbait.
- makomk 6y agoLabCorp and the other providers of at-home testing actually went to the trouble of demonstrating that their at-home collection process worked and wouldn't affect reliablity, and then getting authorization from the FDA. This study didn't - they used an FDA exemption which specifically did not apply to at-home testing.