The coronavirus testing device used by the White House to receive results quickly may be missing positive cases, according to a new study from New York University.
The study found that Abbott’s ID NOW missed at least one-third of positive cases detected by a different test. The number of false negatives increased when using the currently recommended dry nasal swabs.
The study has not yet been peer-reviewed and was shared on BioRxiv, a server where scientists can share early work before such reviews.
Researchers raised concerns about the false negative rates in April, leading Abbott to recommend avoiding storing samples in a liquid because it might dilute the test and lead to a false negative result. But when the researchers followed the recommendation, the results missed the coronavirus in 48% of the samples that were positive using a Cepheid GeneXpert test.
