F.D.A. Halts Coronavirus Testing Program Backed by Bill Gates
F.D.A. Halts Coronavirus Testing Program Backed by Bill Gates
The program allows people in the Seattle area to easily take a coronavirus test at home. Researchers say such testing is essential for future monitoring of the virus.
By Mike Baker
May 15, 2020
Updated 4:06 p.m. ET
SEATTLE — An innovative coronavirus testing program in the Seattle area — promoted by the billionaire Bill Gates and local public health officials as a way of conducting wider surveillance on the invisible spread of the virus — has been ordered by the federal government to stop its work pending additional reviews.
The program involved sending home test kits to both healthy and sick people in the hope of conducting the kind of widespread monitoring that could help communities safely reopen from lockdowns. Researchers and public health authorities already had tested thousands of samples, finding dozens of previously undetected cases.
But the program, a partnership between research groups and the Seattle and King County public health department that had been operating under authorization from the state, was notified this week that it now needs approval directly from the federal government. Officials with the Food and Drug Administration told the partnership to cease its testing and reporting until the agency grants further approval.
The delay is the latest evidence of how a splintered national effort to develop, distribute and ramp up testing has left federal regulators struggling to keep up. Amid concerns about the reliability of a burgeoning number of coronavirus antibody tests — which check whether someone may have previously had the virus — the F.D.A. responded last week by ordering companies to submit data proving the tests’ accuracy.
But the Seattle program does not test for antibodies and has wide backing, including from public health leaders, the Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center and Mr. Gates, whose foundation has been deeply involved in fighting the pandemic. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention also provided an in-person technical adviser to the project.
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https://www.nytimes.com/2020/05/15/us/coronavirus-testing-seattle-bill-gates.html
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Our intelligence services do keep sending us warnings. Just the other day a retired intelligence chief was on TV explaining that Russia has been working all along to steal the 2020 election as part of its plot to destroy America and that we should be terrified.
The Atlantic has a new article, "Putin Is Well on His Way to Stealing the Next Election: RIP democracy," spreading what our intelligence services are saying.
It might help if voters could be transported overseas to SEE what destroyed, impoverished nations look like. Talk about Russia's plans here and people say, "I know. Terrible. Pass the chicken, please. Say, let's go to the river next week."
When and if there is a treatment or vaccine, trump will pirate either/both in every way so he personally benefits, because that's what he's done all along. trump has a plan, but it doesn't involve anything close to helping the American citizens combat this virus. We're on our own, with some guidelines from our state Governors. That's it. No food chain security, no drug supply security, no security in anything. It's up to us to make sure we plan ahead and do the best we can for ourselves and families this fall. 
Straight ticket all the way! 
