Cheap, daily COVID tests could be ‘akin to vaccine’
A Harvard epidemiologist and expert in disease testing is calling for a shift in strategy toward a cheap, daily, do-it-yourself test that he says can be as effective as a vaccine at interrupting coronavirus transmission — and is currently the only viable option for a quick return to an approximation of normal life. “These are our hope,” said Michal Mina, assistant professor of epidemiology at Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health and Brigham and Women’s Hospital. “We don’t have anything tomorrow, other than shutting down the economy and keeping schools closed.” As the pandemic’s health, economic, and educational toll mounts, Mina, a member of the Harvard Chan School’s Center for Communicable Disease Dynamics, said the paper-strip tests have already been developed and their shotgun approach to testing — cheap and widespread — provides a way back to the workplace, classroom, and other venues. The strategy, if adopted and backed by the federal government,...