Dr. Michael Mina:

Serial or ongoing testing is an effective tool to limit spread and stop outbreaks. Instead if in a quarantine period, people can have a test daily or every other day. That would be an effective way to stop outbreaks from spreading. If an outbreak is ongoing in a community, antigen testing can be used across a large swathe of that community. Our evaluations have shown that that would prevent an outbreak. Even if cases start to emerge, it would prevent them from causing an outbreak that needs to be addressed. The ongoing use of testing is an effective tool to limit spread.

Regarding regulation, it is important that we evaluate the different tests. If a Government is going to have a contract with a company, it is important to regulate those tests and understand how they are performing. Some of the tests that we saw in Taiwan and Korea were not performing well. Others have performed exceedingly well. It is important to create a panel with an independent group that is able to evaluate the different tests. It could be done in one day. A test could be taken from a company, with a box of 50 of the tests, and an answer could be provided by the end of the day. It is simple and I am happy to advise on how that could work after the meeting.