Dr. Michael Mina:

The first question is whether a self-administered test works. The short answer is "Yes". Most of the initial studies that looked at self-administered antigen testing found that the efficacy was a bit lower but that was on the first attempt. The first time people try to tie their shoes, they do not do it well, but they do it just fine the second time. It is not different with an antigen test. It is important to recognise and has been shown here, in Liverpool, and elsewhere, that those early reports that people could not do the test as well was because it was the first time and they were fumbling around trying to figure out what the plastic was. These are so simple that the second time they used the test, the efficacy shot up. We can use that knowledge as a test to say that if people need to use a test, maybe they can use it earlier, perhaps two weeks before a flight or event, or they can have a more sophisticated version.

There is a middle ground between healthcare-observed testing and completely independent at-home testing. We have seen that utilised in the United States. I want to be clear that I have no financial ties to any of the companies that we are talking about. eMed is doing observed testing on computers using call centre workers rather than healthcare workers. It allows it to scale to substantial numbers of observed tests. If people are doing the test for the first time, maybe they can get help through a service such as eMed. It is simple. There are solutions to these issues.