Cue Well being Cue Reader Overview: Correct and Costly Covid-19 Check Package

I’ve tried a dozen at-home Covid assessments over the previous 12 months. If it’s on the shelf at a drugstore, pharmacy, or grocery retailer, I’ve in all probability used it a number of occasions. However every time I open a check like BinaxNow or QuickVue, I nonetheless attain for the instruction handbook, principally out of concern that I’ll mess up a vital step. It’s been a continuing reminder of why I want utilizing Cue Well being’s Cue Reader diagnostic instrument over every other at-home check. It’s freed from tubes, options, cassettes, and check strips.

I wasn’t at all times a fan of this Covid-19 check package. Final 12 months, I initially handed on recommending it on account of its mind-boggling $444 beginning value, which has since dropped to $394 (and remains to be costly). It simply felt flawed throughout a pandemic when hundreds of thousands of individuals have been dropping jobs and reducing bills because of the unpredictable occasions. It was a lot wiser to only spend roughly $25 on an at-home check (half of which was coated by insurance coverage) and obtain eight free assessments per 30 days. Plus, there was at all times the choice to take a free Covid check at an area testing website.

Nonetheless, the Biden administration has suspended its free at-home Covid check program on account of an absence of funding from Congress. The federal funding free of charge Covid testing places and partial insurance coverage protection for at-home assessments (along with free vaccines and medicine) are additionally working out. This would possibly imply that restocking your at-home stash might develop into dearer these subsequent few months. Immediately, investing in a Cue Reader doesn’t really feel so outlandish.

A Compact and Speedy Machine

{Photograph}: Cue Well being

Cue Well being’s at-home check facilities round a small central hub known as the Cue Reader, which might detect a virus’ genetic materials. Generally known as a molecular check, it’s usually extra correct than an antigen (also referred to as a speedy check) and corresponding to a polymerase chain response (PCR) check, with the flexibility to establish small traces of SARS-CoV-2 earlier—probably even a day or two earlier than you begin feeling any signs. That may be crucial when making an attempt to forestall the unfold of the virus. Cue says its check has an accuracy price of 97.8 p.c (simply behind the single-use Lucira at-home molecular check, which the corporate claims is 98 p.c correct). In response to this impartial research, Cue’s at-home molecular check additionally demonstrated 99.4% accuracy in comparison with lab-based PCR assessments.

The Cue Reader is compact and doesn’t look ugly. I preserve it on my desk, however I may see it resting on an entryway desk or kitchen counter. It’s simple to journey with too. I threw it in my baggage after I went to California this previous summer time, however I additionally stash it in my duffle after I go dwelling to go to my mother and father. It’s rechargeable, so that you don’t have to fret about changing batteries (I simply preserve it plugged in at my desk). 

What I really like most about this technique is definitely taking the check—one thing I by no means thought I’d say. Sure, you continue to have to swab your nostrils, however the remaining is simply so darn simple and doesn’t really feel like a science experiment. There are not any tubes of resolution. As a substitute, the Cue Reader handles every part. It really works by way of Bluetooth, so that you’ll want a smartphone to make use of the Reader, nevertheless it’s easy to arrange. Obtain the app, make an account, and pair the Cue Reader to your telephone. Whenever you’re able to take a check, open the app for a walkthrough of every step. There are so few steps that it’s simple to memorize—no instruction handbook wanted. 

The Reader comes with a number of cartridges, and identical to the way you’d push Tremendous Mario World into the Tremendous Nintendo Leisure System, you first have to push one in every of these cartridges into the reader and anticipate it to heat up. As soon as the app says the cartridge is prepared, swab your nostril with the included wand and insert it into the cartridge. That’s it! After 20 minutes, you may verify your outcomes in your telephone and, if wanted, ship the outcomes as a PDF via e mail or textual content. Cleanup can also be a breeze, although maybe simply as wasteful as different at-home kits—take away the cartridge from the reader and throw it out.