In the United Kingdom, an 85-minute Covid-19 test could change visitations for those in long-term care and their loved ones. A new testing machine reads saliva samples, and can provide a test result in just over an hour. If proven successful, those visiting residents in long-term care would be able to not only visit with loved ones, but touch and hug them as well after testing negative. A director of a home care facility stated how transformative this would make visits, as “visits in the garden or through a barrier are actually not helpful because it causes the person more distress.”
In a first round of trials, 28 care-homes will receive the machine to run tests. These trials arrive among rising Covid-19 infection rates across the United Kingdom, and heightened pressure on the government to provide widespread testing for staff and residents at care homes.
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