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A growing data gap

Here's the latest news from the global pandemic.

Terrible timing

You're feeling under the weather. Maybe it's nothing, but in 2021 why take a chance? A quick online order and you're soon opening an at-home Covid-19 test. In less than 15 minutes you find out whether you're infected. No prescription required, no fuss.

That's the promise of at-home virus tests, which have become widely available in the U.S. since the Food and Drug Administration began authorizing over-the-counter versions late last year. That accessibility, however, comes with a big risk: creating a sizeable data gap just as the delta variant is spreading around the U.S.

While Covid testing sites and labs like Quest Diagnostics are required to report their findings, the FDA relaxed requirements for some at-home kits to speed their path to market. Two popular ones, made by Abbott Laboratories and Quidel, were launched without a mechanism for reporting results to public health officials. 

Abbott says customers are encouraged to report test results. Under a recent update to the product's emergency-use authorization, test-takers will have the option of reporting results using Abbott's Navica website or phone app. But there's no requirement to do so. Quidel didn't respond to a request for comment.

BinaxNOW Covid-19 home test from Abbott

Photographer: Abbott Laboratories

In a world where Covid is everywhere, tests should be easy to get. That's been a refrain of public-health experts since the early days of the pandemic, and that promise is finally starting to be realized.

But at what cost?

New Covid cases are still one of the best indicators of the pandemic's direction, and health officials are watching as closely as ever for signs that the latest surge may be near a peak, at least in some parts of the U.S. Testing still remains the single best way of measuring the spread of the coronavirus and the risk posed in different regions.

Michael Mina, an epidemiologist at the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health who studies diagnostics, worries that clusters of people are testing positive using home tests without public health officials knowing.

"We should be doing a better job of keeping track," he says. "We should be planning and creating ways that really allow us to capture that information, for no other reason than for monitoring and planning at the public health level.''—Emma Court

Track the vaccines

More Than 5.11 Billion Shots Given

Enough doses have now been administered to fully vaccinate 33.3% of the global population—but the distribution has been lopsided. Countries and regions with the highest incomes are getting vaccinated more than 20 times faster than those with the lowest. We've updated our vaccine tracker to allow you to explore vaccine rates vs Covid cases in a number of countries. See the latest here.

Bloomberg

Bloomberg

 

What you should read

Blood Clot Risk Higher From Covid Than Shots
Findings appear to bolster decision to continue using Astra's vaccine.
New Zealand Extends Its Lockdown Amid Delta 
Delta tests nation's elimination strategy because it's more transmissible.
Previous Covid Prevents Delta Better Than Pfizer
It shows the challenge of relying only on shots move past the pandemic.
Argentine President Offers His Salary After Party 
Move comes after scandal around a party hosted at height of lockdown. 
Opinion: No Return to Baking in Sweatpants
The great consumer rotation is finally upon us. What we buy will differ. 

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