Wherever we are in the world right now, when we picture Summer 2021, it’s likely that we have the same dream: we want to see the world opening up and COVID-19 spread in steep decline. We want kids safely back into classrooms and workers safely back into offices and factories. We want to be able to visit our loved ones for holidays and return to restaurants, bars, and gyms. We want our quality of life to improve, and along with it, our collective mental health.
This isn’t as remote a dream as it can sometimes feel – especially when we are shuttered at home, watching as rates of the virus increase, in some places for the second time. Several vaccines are on the verge of being approved by regulators – meaning that we could soon be able to provide people with immunity and quash rates of the virus in their current numbers. But as we wait for a vaccine roll-out with anticipation, there are still important questions to consider. Who will have access to these vaccines? How can we reduce the number of people contracting the virus in the meantime? And if we do get a vaccine, how will we know who needs it?
At XPRIZE, we believe the answer lies in rapid, daily COVID-19 testing. We need a simple yet radical technology so that we can all get tested frequently, quickly, affordably, and easily. This resource – along with a vaccine, will put the world back on track. Here’s why:
The accessibility and regularity of daily testing would mean that people could reintegrate into society faster, or not have to preventatively “lockdown”. As Jeff Huber, XPRIZE Rapid Covid Testing Technical Lead and President and Co-founder of OpenCovidScreen, told Axios: "What makes COVID-19 so challenging is two things: Asymptomatic and presymptomatic spreading, and the possibility of super spreaders — infected people who for some reason spark huge outbreaks." Simply screening for symptoms is therefore insufficient, Huber explains, because too many people are able to spread the virus without showing symptoms. “Rapid testing can solve that problem and ensure potential super-spreaders are taken out of circulation before they begin super-spreading.”
While current testing solutions are working to mitigate the virus, they are not designed for frequent usage and they are not accessible enough. We know that COVID-19 is having a devastating impact on the lives of people from low-income backgrounds and marginalized communities, and yet one issue with testing on the market is that it’s just too expensive. Most private tests cost around $100. In countries where tests are provided free by governments, they are in high demand and short supply, while in many low and middle-income countries testing is harder to come by – meaning those places need this technology the most.
In America specifically, testing has been patchy – improving, then declining again. Michael Mina, professor of epidemiology at Harvard, told The Atlantic that he believed this was due to no centralized body responsible for testing nationwide and no cheap, fast daily testing solution. Speaking to Fast Company, Jeff Huber said: “At this point, we are behind in catching up,” - “We need to over-index to be able to provide that safety net,” he urged, explaining that tests with a strong supply chain and without over-reliance on lab processing could do this. They could get cheaper as they scale, meaning that more Americans (or governments) could afford them.
On top of this, the tests must be faster and easier to do. American testing has been too slow and ineffective, with some people having recovered before their test results have even arrived, leading Bill Gates to declare in August that “the majority of all U.S. tests are completely garbage.” Right now, if you do get hold of a test, it usually takes around 48 hours for a swab or 72 hours for the results of a home kit to reach you. But rapid testing would produce results in under 12 hours, while utilizing minimally invasive techniques for sampling, like saliva or mouth swabs (so as not to put people off getting one). These tests do not need to be 100% perfect – they just need to be accurate enough to give the user a clear idea of whether they need to self-isolate. Tests that take three days to come back become redundant if the person has to for any reason go outside within that time; faster tests allow people to get back to work or to school.
With all of these elements, a testing solution would be revolutionary. Yet no test on the market so far holds the potential for this regularity, at an affordable price point of say $10 to $20, and gives you results within minutes or a few hours, alongside an easy method of collection. “There are tests available that address one or two of the pieces, but there’s nothing that brings all four together,” says Huber.
Around the world, entrepreneurs and scientists are racing to create this piece of innovation, but at XPRIZE we recognize that it needs to happen quickly to maximize impact. That’s why we created XPRIZE Rapid Covid Testing, a $6 million dollar, 6-month competition incentivizing teams to come up with this game-changing solution – a daily test that costs no more than $15, and can be rolled out at scale.
While vaccines are important, we can’t become complacent and rely on them alone to save us. In the beginning, vaccines will likely need to go to people that are confirmed to have the disease or showing symptoms, and until a vaccine is ready to scale massively and affordably, we will have a COVID-19 problem. This makes mass scale daily testing key in the transition period and beyond. If we can roll it out for coronavirus, the same technology could be used for future pandemics, and it could herald a time where many other common infections no longer go undiagnosed. Rapid, daily testing will save lives now, and in the future.
XPRIZE Rapid Covid Testing is a $6 million dollar, 6-month competition to develop faster, cheaper, and easier to use COVID-19 testing methods at scale. No more guessing. No more lack of tests. The world needs more high-quality, affordable testing to safely re-open.