FDA Approves First COVID-19 Breathalyzer Test

As the situation with COVID-19 continues to change and develop, AllEars will be bringing you the latest relevant news that could affect a theme park visit.

Since the start of the pandemic, we’ve seen countless advancements in the medical field.

Over the course of the past few years, COVID-19 tests have become more rapid, vaccines have been developed, and we’ve even seen the addition of COVID-19 antiviral pills. But now, the FDA has approved a game-changing new device…one that can detect infections with only samples of a patient’s breath.

According to CBS News, the InspectIR COVID-19 Breathalyzer can yield results in just three minutes, however, it’s only available for use “by a qualified, trained operator under the supervision of a health care provider.” It’s designed to be used in hospitals, doctors’ offices, or mobile testing sites.

The device requires a piece of equipment that’s roughly the size of a piece of carry-on luggage. It was tested in a study of 2409 people (both with and without symptoms), and during those tests, the device “was able to spot 91.2% of cases — and yielded false positives in only 0.7% of results.” According to USAToday, the test correctly identified negative samples 99.3% of the time. The test is performed by exhaling into a tube — similar to blowing up a balloon.