Last September 17, 2020 the Philippine Basketball Association (PBA) announced their version of the famous National Basketball Association’s Bubble (NBA Bubble) called the PBA Bubble. A “bubble” in this context is when sports teams and their staff stay in a specific area for a finite amount of time. Strict protocols such a social distancing while on the bench and not being allowed to go out of the area (unless it is to practice or games) to name a few. Both the NBA and PBA bubbles have proven to be very successful as there were extremely few people who had tested positive were reported.
LABx partnered up with the PBA and the We Test As One Group to help make this possible. LABx helped train the nurses assigned in the bubble in the proper ways and protocols on how to conduct the swab tests as well as how to use the 2 kinds of machines LABx sent. The Sofia 2 and the Fina Ag were the tests that were used by the PBA during the bubble and this with the partnership of We Test As One helped prove the PBA Bubble to be very effective and safe environment for the sports community to be able to continue their season. The Sofia 2 is changing the testing game with its high mobility and affordability, the Sofia 2 boasts a sensitivity of 96.7% and a low risk of process error. The user will get accurate results in as fast as 15 minutes. The Fina Ag is a qualitative antigen screen test which can detect the viral presence of SARS-CoV-2 via a painless nostril swab that only takes 15 minutes. It has a sensitivity rating of 96% and a specificity rating of 98%. FINA Ag is our most affordable SARS-CoV-2 viral test by far, and it is known to be highly accurate, accessible (available at point-of-care), and affordable.
LABx continues to strive and develop more tests to help the Filipino people feel safer and more secured during this pandemic and will continue to find more ways to make the most accurate, accessible and affordable tests possible. LABx will continue to fight for the Filipino and to assist as many sporting events as possible so the Filipino people can live as normal a life as possible while we still have this pandemic.
