Battle Creek area physicians now have another tool in their COVID-19 medicine chest. It's one of the latest advances in virus testing. This one involves a self-administered test. The Food and Drug Administration is approving emergency use authorization for the latest at-home virus test to be used in the United States.

The “QuickVue At-Home COVID-19 Test” is designed to make it easy for people to complete a test on their own without a medical observer. The test kit is manufactured and sold by California-based Quidel Corporation.

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It’s good for ages down to as low as 8 years old. The hitch is the kit must be prescribed by a physician. And so far, it is only determined to be accurate if administered within 6 days of the onset of typical virus symptoms. One of the nice things about the test is that the results are determined on the spot within just a few minutes. There’s no need to send a sample somewhere or take it to a lab. The self-administered nasal swab can be done by the individual being tested, or with help from someone else.

There are more than 100 approved COVID-19 tests that are only allowed to be administered by physicians or medically trained individuals with results being verified separately by laboratories.  The new Quidel at-home test is only the fourth to be approved by the feds for a self-administered at home. Results can be shown in as little as 10 minutes.

An FDA administrator says in a media release, "The FDA continues to prioritize the availability of more at-home testing options in response to the pandemic. The QuickVue At-Home COVID-19 Test is another example of the FDA working with test developers to bring important diagnostics to the public."

The President of Quidel, also in a media release, says, "Our mission is to provide greater access to frequent, affordable and highly accurate diagnostic testing, and ultimately to enable individuals to take charge of their own health and help them make prudent decisions to protect themselves and their loved ones."

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Stacker used data from the 2020 County Health Rankings to rank every state's average life expectancy from lowest to highest. The 2020 County Health Rankings values were calculated using mortality counts from the 2016-2018 National Center for Health Statistics. The U.S. Census 2019 American Community Survey and America's Health Rankings Senior Report 2019 data were also used to provide demographics on the senior population of each state and the state's rank on senior health care, respectively.

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