Tricorder for COVID-19?

 

Boy, wouldn't it be great if we had some sort of device we could point at people and have it tell us whether they're infected with SARS-CoV-2?  With the current gold-standard PCR test requiring big labs and hours to complete, fast, reliable virus detection has become a hot topic.

Both Stanford and University of Minnesota have been working on portable devices to analyze samples faster.  DARPA wants gadgets that will detect the virus in the air. But all those require analysis of physical samples. That's so last century. Let's have something futuristic!


Introducing  Covid Hunter, the "world's first non-contact viral detector." Supposedly, you point this thing at a person (or any sample from a person) and with "99% specificity and accuracy" it detects whether the virus is present. It works from up to six feet away, even through glass or another transparent material. Other claims and specs are here.

This all sounds a little too good to be true.  It doesn't help that there's not much explanation of how it works. The company's YouTube promo is all hype and no explanation. One article claims it works by some sort of laser refraction. I'm no laser refraction expert, but I don't see how a detector based on visible light could detect a virus inside the body, which this scanner definitely does according to claims.

The same article says the inventors expect the device to be "very affordable" once its price is set.  So we have a non-contact device that can miraculously detect the virus, is almost perfectly accurate, sees inside the body, works from 6 feet away even through glass, and will be very affordable.  Umm hmm. 

Image: "Tricorder" by MikeBlogs is licensed under CC BY 2.0

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