We've been keeping a close eye on technology and thought it might be good to share a summary with everyone. We also want to see what other things people are aware of that we have missed so far in terms of things that make swinging a little bit safer during this plague.
For the record, cases are still way too high for us to play with others, even with all the mitigation steps we are about to mention. Once they drop below 10 per 100K we'll feel more comfortable with the below steps, though the cost becomes pretty hefty!
The gold standard remains rapid PCR testing. We've used a few for non-swinging reasons, and found that letsgetchecked has the fastest turnaround without going in to a clinic. At over £100 per test per person, and with at least a 24 hour delay, it is not going to work for club entry any time soon, especially since people could test negative with that, then be positive 24 hours later as things develop. People doing those tests from home also has possible false negatives from poorly administered swabbing.
First out of the gates over summer, we came into contact with a bunch of rapid, small PCR machines. These, such as the Chai Open PCR and the genesig q16 would allow somewhere like a club to test on-site. Still a multi-hour turnaround for a test, which would also involve the sexy gagging and brain poking swab methods, but done properly would give a high degree of confidence that people coming on site are covid free. We actually tried to procure a q16 for work, but they, like many other rapid machines, are currently reserved for large installations like airports, sports, and so on. PCR testing basically magnifies the virus many, many times, so that any trace of the virus, including dead virus, will show up to some degree, making them extremely sensitive tools and they are the main way people are diagnosed through the NHS.
The next things that started becoming widely available were antibody tests (IgM / IgG). You could buy these right at the outset of lockdown and we had a couple from a Dutch company, but accuracy was terrible to the point of them being worthless. Initial antibodies develop about 14 days after first exposure to covid by most estimates. While PCR tests can pick the virus up very rapidly, antibody tests are not very helpful for swinging because someone could still be infectious with a positive antibody result, or could be weeks past infection and show positive, or be at peak levels of infectiousness but have no antibodies yet. We've used them with family and friends out of curiosity, and like the MEDsan UK/SanPharma Germany tests the most which claim 98.3% accuracy, but is for businesses only. You have to prick your finger for a couple of drops of blood for these tests as well, and having a finger wound is not the greatest idea for sexy times with others 
An adapted antibody test exists in the form of medusa19, which is a saliva-based test for antibodies. This reports a 92% specificity, so almost 1 in 10 would have the wrong outcome, but avoids the need for bleeding yourself. Again, the timings are not sufficient for safe swinging.
Both the blood and saliva antibody tests are £30 a pop, which for two couples already puts a not-great safety check at £120.
AlphaBiolabs and MEDsan also both now offer home antigen tests to business customers, but the price is a bit spicy at more than £65 each, so £260 for a two couple meet. An antigen is not produced by your body like an antibody - it is basically a bit on the outside of a pathogen, so these tests effectively detect the virus itself, which means they work much earlier. The AlphaBiolabs one claims to start picking up the virus 2 days before symptoms show, but still 4 days after a PCR test might pick up the first signs of virus. The tests claim 97.6% sensitivity, but because you have to do a throat gagging swab and brain poking swab, it is easy to get wrong, and their false negative rate is estimated to be 30%. Odds are good though if you have both people from two couples doing it, that the virus will be found if present in one couple.
Overall, we think that once community cases are lower, the home antigen tests are good enough, though expensive, to allow some fun to happen safely again if they are timed carefuly by conscientious people.
The one we are watching very closely has also been mentioned here before, and that is the Avacta antigen saliva test strip. That would just be something you apply saliva to for a rapid result. If it can give reasonably high accuracy at a fairly early rate in the infection period, it would certainly go a long way towards making small parties safe again. They seem to have had good results with other forms of testing that are making us hopeful that we can get to a point where we all just spit on some paper before going in to a small club or playing soon.
I hope that this was helpful for someone out there since it took a while to type up! What other tests have fabbers come across that might mitigate risks of meeting, and are there any other ones people have their eyes on? |
