Coronavirus Watch: Inaccurate results from rapid tests raise concerns
Remember how, earlier this month, the governor of Ohio tested positive for the coronavirus but then later tested negative?
He initially tested positive on a rapid diagnostic antigen test, but two followup tests using a more precise, lab-based PCR test – which detects the virus's genetic material – showed the governor didn't have the virus.
Inaccurate results from rapid COVID-19 tests are raising concerns about widespread screening. Because no test is infallible, some cases will be missed and some people will be forced to miss work due to false positives. Read more here.
It's Tuesday, and this is the Coronavirus Watch from the Paste BN Network. Here is the most significant news of the day, as of 1 p.m. ET:
- Eight-time Olympic gold medalist Usain Bolt has tested positive for COVID-19.
- The Republican National Convention kicked off virtually on Monday, with Republicans touting President Donald Trump's response to the coronavirus pandemic.
- Two fraternities at Florida Gulf Coast University have been suspended after allegedly throwing large, off-campus parties Friday night, ignoring the school's new COVID-19 health and safety rules.
- New York will set up COVID-19 testing sites for incoming passengers at its two largest airports as part of the latest effort to stop travelers from bringing the coronavirus to the state.
- Tracing the outbreak: The hundreds of thousands of bikers who attended the Sturgis Motorcycle Rally may have departed western South Dakota, but public health departments in multiple states are trying to measure how much and how quickly the coronavirus spread in bars, tattoo shops and gatherings before people traveled home to nearly every state in the country.
- Fifteen of the NFL’s 32 teams have so far ruled out spectators to start the season, but the Miami Dolphins won't be joining them.
Today's numbers: New case records were set in Kansas, North Dakota and South Dakota, and also Guam, and a record numbers of deaths were reported in Arkansas and Wyoming, a Paste BN analysis of Johns Hopkins data through late Monday shows
The U.S. has 5.7 million confirmed infections and more than 177,000 deaths. Worldwide, there have been more than 814,000 deaths and 23.7 million cases, according to John Hopkins University data. See the numbers in your area here, and check out where cases are rising here.
What do you want to know about the coronavirus? Submit your questions through this form.
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– Grace Hauck, Paste BN breaking news reporter, @grace_hauck