COVID Test Used at White House Often Wrong
May 14, 2020 — A rapid coronavirus test that’s used to test White House staff could miss infections up to nearly half the time, a new study suggests.
NYU Langone Health researchers evaluated the accuracy of the Abbott ID Now test, which was given emergency authorization by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration in late March, The New York Times reported.
They found that the test — which uses a small machine and provides results in five to 13 minutes — may miss coronavirus infections up to 48% of the time. The study has not been peer-reviewed.
There was no immediate response from a White House spokesperson when asked for a comment, the Times reported.
The test is designed to be in doctor’s offices and clinics, and is being used in drive-through testing sites nationwide, newspaper reported.
“ID Now is an important tool that delivers information where it’s needed most,” Abbott said in a statement.
The company said its reported rate of missed infections was 0.02% and that the latest findings were “not consistent with other studies of the test,” the Times reported.
