Testing

What is it

Testing for the virus that causes COVID-19 involves multiple supplies, including a swab and chemical reagents. Because of the highly contagious nature of the virus, testing is a way to stop the coronavirus from spreading: Those who test positive and those they come in contact with are told to isolate.

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1 Nasopharyngeal swab

Used to collect the sample that will be tested for the COVID-19 virus. This is no Q-tip. It is flexible, thin and long enough to go in your nose and all the way back to the spot behind your nose at the top of your throat. During the test, the swab is inserted and rotated to collect a sample.

2 Universal Transport Medium

A liquid into which the swab is placed for transporting the sample to a lab. It is the contents of the liquid that is actually tested for the virus that causes COVID-19, not the swab.

How they’re used

The virus that causes COVID-19 was unknown to scientists before 2019, and there were no tests that could detect it. So developing tests quickly became a global priority, with a university lab in Germany reaching the finish line first. Instead of relying on validated tests, the CDC chose to develop an entirely new diagnostic test — one that the Trump administration claimed would be more accurate.

Initially, labs were only allowed to run the CDC test. It wasn’t until February 29 that the FDA loosened their regulations, allowing labs to run non-CDC tests. And it wasn’t until mid-March, roughly two months after the German test was developed, that the first commercial tests were available for sale and use in the U.S.

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3 Micropipette

Used to measure and transfer small amounts of liquid.

4 Pipette tips

Single-use plastics that are fitted on micropipettes. Each time a sample is transferred, a new pipette tip must be used in order to avoid contamination.

5 Microcentrifuge tube

A single-use plastic tube used to contain mixtures of the test sample.