NOEL KING, HOST:
Three states in the South are planning to reopen parts of their economies in the next few days. The governors of Georgia, South Carolina and Tennessee have said they're going to ease restrictions. Georgia's governor, Brian Kemp, says his state has upped testing and that health professionals have given the go ahead. Georgia gyms, bowling alleys and salons will be able to open as long as they follow social distancing and cleaning guidelines. Now, these reopenings are happening despite the fact that there's still a lot of concern over testing shortages in the United States. And there is another problem. NPR has learned that some new, faster tests may not be as reliable as hoped. Health correspondent Rob Stein broke this story.
Hi, Rob
ROB STEIN, BYLINE: Hey, there. Good morning.
KING: Tell me about this new, fast test and what's going on.
STEIN: It's called the Abbott ID NOW test, and it's gotten a lot of attention because it's so fast. It can tell someone if they're negative or positive in less than 15 minutes, you know, like the quick flu or strep test we're used to seeing clinics and doctors' offices. You know, President Trump has bragged about this a lot at the White House briefings. And lots of people have been talking about how the Abbott ID NOW tests could help life get back to normal.
KING: OK, but there is a problem with it. What's the problem?
STEIN: Well, you know, it appears this test can miss more infected people than other tests. Dr. Gary Procop is a top medical testing expert at the Cleveland Clinic. He shared with NPR the results of what could be the biggest study so far. Take a look at this. He tested 239 specimens with the ID NOW test and four other commonly used tests. Here's what he found.
GARY PROCOP: The Abbott test in our five-test comparison produced the most false negatives out of all the tests.
STEIN: He says that test detected only 85.2% of the positive specimens.
PROCOP: So that means, you know, if you had 100 patients that were positive, 15% of those patients would be falsely called negative. They'd be told that there are negative for COVID when they're really positive.
KING: Wow. So 15% of people could be walking around thinking that they are in the clear when in fact they're sick. They're positive.
STEIN: Yeah, yeah. That's what he's saying. And, you know, the concern is they could spread it to other people. Now, this test isn't the most common test out there today, but 50,000 are being produced each day. And that's increasing fast. So for one thing, Procop says that these false negatives make it really dangerous for deciding whether it's safe, for example, you know, to have patients come into hospitals maybe for, like, elective surgeries. Let's listen to a little bit more of what he said about that.
PROCOP: You know, if you have a patient coming in the hospital and you're going to put them into what has been determined to be a COVID-free ward, you have to have the most sensitive tests available. Because once you put somebody with COVID into a COVID-free ward, it's no longer a COVID-free ward anymore. It's your new COVID ward.
STEIN: You know, so Procop says his hospital stopped using the test that way. Instead, they're going with the three other tests that hits the mark between 96% and 100% of the time.
KING: So what's happening with this test now? Is it being used for other things?
STEIN: Yeah. You know, it's being used to test doctors and nurses, you know, regular people who are worried they may be sick, family members of sick people. And there's talk about using it to help decide all sorts of things, like, you know, who's safe to go back to work or get on a plane. Here's Gary Procop again from the Cleveland Clinic.
PROCOP: It is a risk that if you tell somebody they're negative and they're truly positive that they will relax social distancing, not wear a face mask, et cetera and could transmit the disease. So that's a truth.
KING: Rob, let me ask you about Abbott, the company that makes the test. What are they saying about this?
STEIN: You know, Abbott says the test is very reliable and any problems are not being caused by the test itself. It could be how it's being used, that specimens are being diluted instead of going directly into the Abbott machines like they're supposed to. But Procop says the company needs to prove that. Now, you know, it's important to note that all tests can produce false negatives, you know, if the sample isn't collected the right way or at the right time. And just because someone tests negative one day, they may get infected the next day. And the Abbott ID NOW quick test can be very useful, especially when it's really important to get results really fast. And most of the time, it is right. But Procop says it's important to know that even when someone gets a negative test, they may still be infected. You know, they can't get lulled into a false sense of security. They can't let their guard down.
KING: Health correspondent Rob Stein. Thanks so much for this reporting, Rob.
STEIN: You bet. Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright NPR.
