Koepsell is about to be even more important to Nebraska’s testing efforts. Koepsell will be the interim director of a coronavirus testing lab NU plans to set up in East Stadium at the Nebraska Athletic Performance Lab. There, the Huskers will conduct rapid-response, point-of-care antigen testing currently used in professional sports and soon to be implemented in the Pac-12, which last week announced a long-term agreement with Quidel.
Through a contract with Vivature, which has partnered with Quidel, Nebraska has already received 1,200 test kits. NU will get Quidel’s Sofia-2 Analyzer machine by the end of this week and expects to incorporate the antigen testing into existing testing protocols by the end of next week.
The antigen test, which can utilize a less-invasive swab in the front of the nose, could be administered to players, coaches and staff the night before a game — in the hotel, for example — and tested for immediate results at the NAPL.
Having the materials in East Stadium, Lambrecht said, is “a huge advantage” for Nebraska.
Nebraska’s planning to accommodate its opponents, too.
“We’re building our protocol so that it can support two teams on game day,” Lambrecht said.
It’s not clear what the Big Ten’s testing supply plan might be, as it has not announced, like the Pac-12, any conference-wide approach. On Sept. 1, President Donald Trump had a phone call with Big Ten Commissioner Kevin Warren, reportedly about providing testing supplies. The federal government has ordered 150 million tests from Abbott, which is currently fulfilling that massive stockpile order before taking other orders.
https://omaha.com/sports/huskers/football/huskers-acquire-own-rapid-covid-testing-through-unmc-partnership/article_b2fd0e21-167c-5f60-a46e-c9b64204e9af.amp.html
