Already, the research team is working on a device that could also identify influenza and RSV.
Influenza would be fantastic! I’m thinking people could test themselves and just WFH if they’re positive. If enough people do that, we could dramatically reduce how many people get the flu. That obviously depends on it being inexpensive.
Even just having it at hospitals and senior housing facilities could help improve quarantines for people who are at risk.
Actual influenza makes people too sick to work. Most people are thinking of a cold or RSV or similar and they say they have the flu, so they underestimate how bad the flu is.
Sure, if you actually have a bad case of the flu, you probably can’t work. But if you’re merely exposed to the flu, you probably can.
I’m thinking if an office is exposed to the flu, all employees WFH for some days and they gradually come back to the office. If that becomes a cultural thing, we can drastically reduce the spread. I know my office would be interested, and I’m sure there are plenty more.
That would be so great. As a person with an illness which makes me highly susceptible to respiratory infections, I basically have to avoid crowded places as much as reasonably possible, such as offices, or I spend some 1/3 to 1/2 of every year sick. If that sort of behavior became the norm, though, I would be so much safer and could go out more.
I feel you are onto something there ;-) what about everyone who wants it (and can) gets to work from home ?! :-D
This is amazing. Devices like this, if they can be expanded upon to be able to detect multiple viruses, would be a real game changer as far as spreading contagious illnesses goes. It could also help immunocompromised people know if somewhere is safe to be.
Fingers crossed that this sort of technology actually gets adopted and rolled out and becomes cheaper over time, and isn’t just one of those many fantastic inventions you read about and then never hear of ever again.
First it takes advantage of tiny molecules obtained from llamas that stick exceptionally well to the spike protein of SARS-CoV-2 to pull out any virus that might be present.
A sentence I did not expect to read today…
