Try new rapid tests for corona

Suong Vo extends the cotton swab that just before was good on Camilla Nøtterøy Rygg’s (21) nose.

– Try. Behind.

Inside the white ER test tent, Marta Hildegun Mjeldheim takes another dip with Antibac in her hands and finds another pair of disposable gloves before taking the sample.

Using customary motions, he takes the rod in the test tube and spins it in the liquid before the tube is closed and ready to be sent to Haukeland for analysis. So far, everything is routine for Mjeldheim. But this Monday afternoon, another sample appears from the nose to the back. This should be tested on the rapid testing machine in the back room.

Quick test

Student Rygg has volunteered to perform an additional corona test in connection with the new rapid test being tested in the ER. The difference from the previous test is that it should give an answer in 15 minutes.

– It is very good that you know faster, to prevent people from breaking the quarantine while waiting for an answer, says Rygg.

She herself attends Høyskolen på Vestlandet and has been informed that she is defined as close contact with someone who is infected at school. She doesn’t know who it is. But Rygg is quarantined with the rest of the class in the elementary school teacher line.

– I feel fine and I have no symptoms. But it’s okay to get tested before the quarantine period expires.

Collaborate with others

The new rapid tests being tested in the emergency room are a collaboration between the municipality of Bergen and Noklus (Norwegian quality improvement of laboratory activities outside hospitals).

Today, there are already quick versions of so-called “antibody tests”. These can give you answers as to whether you have had a corona and therefore developed antibodies to the virus.

What is being tested now are “antigen tests” that detect the virus itself. If they work, they could possibly replace time-consuming and expensive lab tests.

– The social benefit of a shorter quarantine time will be very great, says health advisor Beate Husa (KrF), who has traveled to the emergency room to take a closer look at the test.

Negative test

The test for Rygg is the tenth in Monday’s pilot project. R&D advisor Mjeldheim in the ER brings that sample and several others to the building along with his colleague Vo.

A single drop is dripped onto the test chip, which is then inserted into the small device, not much larger than a payment terminal. Then they follow the instructions and wait less than a quarter of an hour. In the end, countdown.

−10, 9, 8, excited health council begins.

Seven seconds later, the answer lights up on the screen: “negative.” We don’t know if it was Ryggs or someone else’s.

All rapid tests are compared with laboratory tests to verify that the results correspond to ordinary tests.

Must try 500

Noklus’ requirement is that they must test 100 positive tests out of a total of 500. To find that many tests, participating participants must be registered as close contacts.

– We ask everyone who has been close contacts if they want to join, and then we have an information letter about the project. In addition, we record responses to questions such as “when were you in contact with an infected person,” “what symptoms do you have,” and “when did they occur,” says Mjeldheim.

Over the next three to four weeks, the trial will take place in both Bergen and Gothenburg. It will then be concluded whether the results and ease of use indicate that this is something that can be done on a large scale.

– If you can find out more quickly if you are infected, this will have a great social benefit. Both in terms of less quarantine time and testing samples, he says.

Husa believes that such tests can revolutionize the daily life of the crown and has even heard from cultural actors who hope that rapid tests, for example, can help fill concert halls again.

– It is not difficult to understand that they find it very interesting, says the councilor.