How to Get Tested for Viruses

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The tests is one of the ways in which here in the US we've been sort of falling down on, right? But what does it mean to get tested? Right. What we have available now is a PCR test. So that means that you're looking for pieces and parts of the virus. We take samples typically from at least you maybe three bodily samples. One is a nasopharyngeal swab. And then for people who are actively kind of coughing up, you know, Lougies basically they'll take a sputum sample. They will extract the RNA from those samples and run it in a machine. It will tell you if you have viral RNA present in any

This is a special episode of Mindscape, thrown together quickly. Many thanks to Tara Smith for joining me on short notice. Tara is an epidemiologist, and a great person to talk to about the novel coronavirus (and its associated disease, COVID-19) pandemic currently threatening the world. We talk about what viruses are, how they spread, and a lot of the science behind virology and pandemics. We also take a practical turn, talking about what measures (washing hands, social distancing, self-isolation) are useful at combating the spread of the virus, and which (wearing masks) are probably not. Then we look to the future, to ask what the endgame here is; Tara suggests that the kind of drastic measure we are currently putting up with might last a long time indeed.

Tara Smith received her Ph.D. in microbiology from the University of Toledo. She is currently Professor of Epidemiology at the Kent State University College of Public Health. She has researched and written extensively about diseases such as ebola and MRSA. She is an active science communicator, and writes regular columns for SELF magazine.

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