Friedberg argues IgG/IgM tests should have been prioritized because they work like pregnancy kits, unlike expensive PCR tests.
“You should still have the PCR tests, but they're expensive and they take a long time to run and they require chemical labs and all this stuff.”
Friedberg notes that 20% of coronavirus infections present without fever, making temperature screening inadequate.
“By the way, only eighty percent of people that get this thing end up with a fever when they kind of get checked in.”
Friedberg says the US missed the boat on IgG and IgM antibody tests to know who has been infected.
“But what we really have missed the boat on, and we're still missing the boat on, is knowing who's been infected and to what extent this thing has actually spread already.”
Friedberg says he and others have bought Chinese antibody tests online for research use.
“There are a lot of people I know that have bought them on the Internet. I have a bunch of them.”
Friedberg says IgG antibody tests are mass-produced in China and used in Italy.
“Those IgG tests are being made en masse in China today. They're being shipped to countries like Italy where they are in fact being used on the front line.”