Virginia Tech researchers developing portable COVID tests Imagine being able to walk into a crowded store, restaurant or even movie theater and be able to detect if there’s COVID-19 in the air. www.dcnewsnow.com/whats-going-... - ThreadSky

covid19disease.bsky.social • 84 days ago

Virginia Tech researchers developing portable COVID tests

Imagine being able to walk into a crowded store, restaurant or even movie theater and be able to detect if there’s COVID-19 in the air.

https://www.dcnewsnow.com/whats-going-around/virginia-tech-researchers-developing-portable-covid-tests/

Comments

death.computer•84 days ago

You would go nowhere.

tsudhonimh.bsky.social•84 days ago

"And that you should either maybe get out of there soon, put on a mask or take other measures"

I just wear a mask and assume COVID and flu will be present

king-rey.bsky.social•84 days ago

but if a mask is too much for you I'm sure you won't mind waving a bag around to catch some air and then fiddling with the test

tsudhonimh.bsky.social•81 days ago

Wow, what a marketing ploy.

sarahgioia.bsky.social•83 days ago

Yeah, I always mask as well. I would use it in a sort of opposite way than suggested-to see if I can take mask off to eat inside a restaurant, for example. Or at a large family gathering.

katfat2.bsky.social•83 days ago

Or an opposite opposite way—use it to convince others to mask too. I am so tired of being the only person masked in a library, a grocery store, or even a clinic!

pagestealer.bsky.social•83 days ago

shoeswalkfar.bsky.social•84 days ago

Imagine, having this kind of test for multi purposes. Like it can check what kind of virus is it's the air: the flus, covid, adenovirus, rhinovirus and so much more. It would be a game changer.

fashionmaven1908.bsky.social•84 days ago

This would be really cool if they could make them into sensors that are built into public spaces so it automatically samples the air for signs of COVID. Like make it connect to the HVAC system to test the air for COVID? Then it could send off an alarm. I would def buy that.

damianaswan.bsky.social•83 days ago

There's actually a proxy for this now! Turns out that in most cases the CO2 level in an enclosed space is a reliable proxy for COVID risk. (This is why air quality scientists are carrying CO2 monitors with them everywhere.)

fashionmaven1908.bsky.social•83 days ago

Oh wow - that’s good to know. I have CO2 detectors in my home.

damianaswan.bsky.social•83 days ago

Carbon monoxide (like from natural gas) or carbon dioxide, like you exhale? The one that's the proxy for COVID risk is what people exhale, and those detectors aren't the kind that are bundled with smoke detectors. This is a good one. https://a.co/d/8fxJhkK

fashionmaven1908.bsky.social•83 days ago

Ohhh you’re right - yes it’s the CO detectors in homes, not CO2.

Either way - sounds like something I’d wanna buy if it can accurately detect the presence of Covid in my home.

damianaswan.bsky.social•83 days ago

This paper explains it well: https://pubs.acs.org/doi/10.1021/acs.estlett.1c00183

fashionmaven1908.bsky.social•83 days ago

Reading the abstract - you really did mean proxy, lol. I think what this is showing is the higher existence of CO2 indicates a higher risk of Covid because the higher CO2 in the air suggests a larger number of people in a confined space. Unless I’m missing something?

damianaswan.bsky.social•83 days ago

Oh and since he's active here now, one of the authors of that paper is @jljcolorado.bsky.social

ricyrick87.bsky.social•84 days ago

This feels like when apple and Google placed those "COVID detectors" on our phones, but the results were spotty at best and eventually went absolutely nowhere...It's all about accuracy & understanding the risk a positive might show you. Any small degree of uncertainty will make adoption much slower

ricyrick87.bsky.social•84 days ago

"People would take a “big bag,” wave it around the air to capture a “big mass of air,” roll up the bag and squeeze the air through a filter."

I love this image though 😁

jgbrowning.bsky.social•84 days ago

Imagine thinking there *isn't* covid in the air in a crowded store, restaurant, or even a movie theater.

s3lece.bsky.social•84 days ago

Honestly, for us, it would be for family. Our close family does not understand that COVID can be asymptomatic and still contagious, but we risk it when we visit them once a year. This would put our minds at ease.

chuckzwicky.bsky.social•84 days ago

Wouldn't it be more efficient for a Venue to have some sort of continuous monitoring?

joshuahunter.bsky.social•83 days ago

You go to the airport with the bag of air that's filled with COVID.

Now what?

sarahgioia.bsky.social•83 days ago

Yes, please!

cafedecheshire.bsky.social•84 days ago

So many politicians are going to literally throw themselves in front of the legalization of it, in the name of protecting business interests. I very much doubt this will hit the market.

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