JOHNSTON, Iowa -- An Iowa-based agriculture science company is launching a nationwide COVID-19 free testing effort Friday, with locations in Ames and Iowa City.
"We're going to be testing tens of thousands of people across the country on this new system, which is lower cost and higher throughput" says Corteva Agricscience's Doane Chilcoat .
He says their new test is not only cheaper, but its and faster to process.
"It is a self-administered nasal swab that doesn't go as far up the nose as current tests. It can be done by the participant--it's not uncomfortable" Chilcoat says
He also says their new tests are highly accurate.
"PCR tests are really the gold standard for COVID testing, and that is the technology we're using here. What's good about PCR-based tests is that they tend to have many fewer, or no, false positives" Chilcoat says
He says all the the tests done nationwide will be processed at Corteva's lab in Johnston.
Chilcoat says the tests and processing are being funded by a grant from the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation.