Dear Senators Sherrod Brown, Rob Portman, and Members of the Ohio Congressional Delegation:
Thank you for all of your hard work and sacrifice during this time of national crisis. I am a citizen of Ohio, at-large member of Bowling Green City Council, and Professor of Chemistry and Biochemistry at BGSU.
The most pressing issue we all face today is to bring the COVID-19 pandemic under control. The pandemic is spreading rapidly because:
- Infected people who don’t know they are infected, because they don’t have symptoms, can infect other people.
- Current testing methods are expensive and can take days to give results – during this time infected persons spread the disease to others.
- Many infected persons are never tested.
The good news is that the technology now exists for rapid, inexpensive, at-home, “spit-on-paper,” COVID-19 tests (“rapid tests”). In the coming months, we can manufacture and distribute hundreds of millions of these tests to determine cheaply and right away who is infectious and can spread the disease. This will allow us to safely reopen our schools and universities, businesses, factories, and public buildings.
As members of the U.S. Congress, you have the power to make this happen, so we ask you to please:
- Immediately require the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) to license the rapid tests and
- Immediately fund the manufacture and distribution of the rapid tests for everyone to use them every day, especially our health workers, school children, students, and teachers.
Background:
- Rapid tests are sufficiently sensitive to detect who is infectious and is shedding enough virus to infect others. Those who test positive can immediately self-isolate and stop the spread of SARS-CoV-2 virus.
- Rapid tests can easily be taken at home and results are available in minutes. No blood, laboratory equipment or medical professionals are needed to run the test.
- Rapid tests cost as low as $1 each, so everyone can test themselves every day before work, school, or social events.
- Rapid tests will stop the spread of the virus and allow life to return safely to nearly normal.
- Mass production and distribution of the rapid tests is much cheaper than another shut-down.
- Several companies have already developed rapid tests.
- The gold standard RT-PCR test often fails to identify people when they are most infectious because of the high cost ($50 to $100), the need for trained medical professionals and specialized laboratories, delays of several days to get results, and testing shortages. During the wait times, infected persons can infect others.
- The low cost and ease-of-use of rapid tests is crucial to protect vulnerable people, who have been hardest hit by the pandemic, including people over 65, disabled or immunocompromised persons, or those without health insurance.
To learn more about the rapid tests and their benefits, please consult the interview with Dr. Michael Mina, Assistant Professor of Epidemiology, Harvard University, on the podcast, This Week in Virology, episode #640 (specifically minutes 22-33). This podcast was released on July 16, 2020. (https://www.microbe.tv/twiv/twiv-640/). Dr. Mina co-authored the op-ed published in the New York Times on July 3, 2020 with economist Laurence Kotlifoff, Boston University Professor of Economics at), titled Coronavirus Testing the Cheap, Simple Way. The popular weekly podcast, MedCram – Medical Lectures explained Clearly, discussed the importance of rapid testing and how these tests work on July 20, 2020.
Neocles Leontis
Bowling Green
