After months of covering the COVID-19 pandemic, the questions I get most often from friends and family involve testing. How long will it take to get results? When’s the best time to do it? Are antibody tests worth it?
We talk about coronavirus testing a lot in the United States, but usually in big-picture ways—whether we’re doing enough of it, how to make it more efficient, and whether it’s contributing to spiking case counts. But from what I’ve seen, there’s still a lot of confusion about the basics.
So I asked Dr. Aneesh Mehta, an infectious diseases expert from Emory University, to explain the distinctions between the different types of coronavirus tests. Here’s the SparkNotes version:
Most COVID-19 testing in this country is PCR, short for polymerase chain reaction. Under this style of testing, your nose or throat swab is sent off to a lab, where technicians look for traces of the virus’ genetic material. It’s the most accurate form of testing, but it’s labor-intensive, which leads to delays.
Saliva testing, a new subtype of PCR testing, could help ease that problem. Spit samples are easier to collect and store than nose or throat swabs, which could help with supply problems. Your local clinic probably doesn’t offer saliva testing yet, but hopefully that will change soon.
Antigen testing, which looks for proteins that live on the virus’ surface, isn’t widely used right now either, but it’s a good option for people who need results fast—often in just minutes. It’s not as accurate as PCR testing, but the ability to test people quickly, and at scale, could make it useful in some contexts.
If you want to know whether you previously had COVID-19, ask for an antibody test. The human body produces antibodies to fight infections, so if you have COVID-19 antibodies in your blood, it’s a sign that you’ve already had the virus. Don’t read into the result too much, though—scientists aren’t sure how well coronavirus antibodies protect you from future infections, nor for how long.
For details on the different types of tests and their pros and cons, read more here.
TODAY'S CORONAVIRUS OUTLOOK
The Global Situation
More than 22.6 million people around the world had been sickened by COVID-19 as of 12 PM eastern time today, and more than 793,000 people have died.
Here is every country with over 300,000 confirmed cases:
The World Health Organization (WHO) is seeking more information about a Russian vaccine candidate that has drawn concern from many health experts, The Guardian reports. Russian officials approved the vaccine without phase three trials to test its safety and efficacy—though they’re reportedly planning to administer 40,000 doses next week for further research. At this point, discussions between the agency and Russia are purely informational, European WHO official Catherine Smallwood told the newspaper.
Meanwhile, two COVID-19 vaccine candidates developed by a state-run Chinese pharmaceutical firm have been cleared for phase three trials in Morocco and Peru, the South China Morning Post reports; they're also being tested in Abu Dhabi and Bahrain. At least 27,000 people are expected to get the vaccines through these trials, which test safety and efficacy.
The WHO and UNICEF are urging African officials to find a safe way to send children back to school while also containing the virus. Governments worldwide are grappling with the consequences of keeping children out of the classroom, but these issues are especially pronounced in Africa, where disruptions in education have been linked to upticks in malnutrition; exposure to stress, violence and trauma; childhood pregnancies; and mental distress.
The Situation in the U.S.
The U.S. had recorded more than 5.5 million coronavirus cases as of 12 PM eastern time today. More than 174,000 have died. Here's where daily cases have risen or fallen over the last 14 days, shown in confirmed cases per 100,000 residents:
On August 20, there were more than 44,000 new cases and 1,000 new deaths confirmed in the U.S. Here's how the country as a whole is currently trending:
U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention Director Dr. Robert Redfield said in an interview yesterday that the number of new COVID-19 deaths in the U.S. should start to drop by next week, as the data catch up to a new round of precautions like bar closures and limits on crowd sizes in many states. "It is important to understand these interventions are going to have a lag, that lag is going to be three to four weeks,” Redfield told the Journal of the American Medical Association. "Hopefully this week and next week you're going to start seeing the death rate really start to drop." More than 1,000 Americans have died per day in recent weeks.
Despite that spot of good news, analysts are projecting a bad stretch for retailers struggling due to prolonged store closures and fears of a second wave of coronavirus. Clothing stores J. Jill and Christopher & Banks are among those at risk of bankruptcy, according to an analysis from S&P Global Market Intelligence. Several major chains, including J.Crew, Brooks Brothers and Neiman Marcus, have already filed for bankruptcy protection during the pandemic.
Developing an effective coronavirus vaccine isn’t the only challenge facing the U.S.—syringe shortages may make it difficult to distribute a vaccine as widely as necessary, The Guardian reports. The Trump Administration estimates the U.S. will need an extra 850 million needles on top of the 600 million-plus produced in the country during a normal year.
All numbers unless otherwise specified are from the Johns Hopkins University Center for Systems Science and Engineering, and are accurate as of August 21, 1 AM eastern time. To see larger, interactive versions of these maps and charts, click here.
WHAT ELSE YOU SHOULD KNOW
The History of Urban Flight Is Repeating Itself
Wealthy people are packing up and leaving cities due to COVID-19. But this isn’t the first time that’s happened—the plague sparked a similar exodus in the 1500s, writes TIME’s Suyin Haynes. Read more here.
Syringe Services Are Struggling During the Pandemic
Syringe services programs are an invaluable resource for those with substance use disorders, serving as a bridge to treatment as well as a way to get clean needles. But social distancing guidelines—and spiking overdose rates in some areas—have made their work challenging during the pandemic. Read more here.
Why We Need to Transform Health Care
Douglas Brooks, who ran the White House Office of National AIDS Policy under U.S. President Barack Obama, spoke with Dr. Otis Brawley, the former chief medical and scientific officer at the American Cancer Society, about why COVID-19 may shake up health care. Read more here.
How Would an Epidemiologist Rate Your Safety Precautions?
In a new series from Elemental, epidemiologists rate people’s COVID-19 prevention tactics based on three days of detailed diary entries. In the first installment, a woman takes her family on a road trip from New York City to Kentucky. Read more here.
Thanks for reading. We hope you find the Coronavirus Brief newsletter to be a helpful tool to navigate this very complex situation, and welcome feedback at coronavirus.brief@time.com.
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Today's newsletter was written by Jamie Ducharme and edited by Alex Fitzpatrick.
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