Dr. Asma Rashid Discusses Wealthy Hosts Paying Medical Personnel To Administer Rapid Tests To Posh Party Guests
ANDERSON COOPER, CNN HOST: And how worried are you that these parties, the parties themselves may bring up the case count in New York?</s>DR. ASMA RASHID, HIRED BY WEALTHY CLIENTS TO TEST PARTY GUESTS: Correct. But the parties are not necessarily large, from 20 to 30. I mean, the numbers are quite small. But it's more so families getting together. And just having this test as a means to -- a conversation piece, let's say, because they realize these are not 100 percent. But do we have any current test that's in the market that's 100 percent reassurance to our people here in the states.</s>COOPER: What do you make, I mean, of where this country is five months or six months into this pandemic with testing. I mean, from a medical -- you're a doctor. Does it surprise you that, you know, that we're still --</s>COOPER: -- we're still waiting for tests?</s>RASHID: Right. I think, globally, not just with the United States, our medical team has learned so much so fast regarding this virus. And yet, there's so much still for us to learn. We were first chasing, three months ago, IGGs, which is the antibody to see if you have exposure to coronavirus. And we were hoping we all have the antibodies. But now, when we recheck the patients and they don't have that antibody, then we realize that these antibodies may not even last. So I think as we develop more knowledge regarding the virus, we learn as a community and as a society of what else to do next. So this is going to be a long haul to really learning more about this virus and how we can move on as an economy.</s>COOPER: These rapid tests, are they something that, if -- you know, if they were more available, that people could do at home on themselves?</s>RASHID: I think that should be the aim. At some point, I think manufacturers should be leading to that way, where all of us should have access to it and be able to utilize it and have the results.</s>COOPER: So is it a nasal swab?</s>RASHID: Correct. There's a nasal swab. There's a finger prick. There's a sputum. There's a saliva check. And from -- these are just the rapids. But in terms of medicine in the hospital, there's now testing for stool. There's -- there's so many varieties of methods. I, frankly, can't keep up. It is changing rapidly.</s>COOPER: Dr. Asma Rashid, I appreciate your time. Thank you very much.</s>RASHID: Thank you.</s>COOPER: President Trump appears to be gaining ground an former Vice President Joe Biden in the latest CNN polls. It comes just as the Democrats are set to rally behind the Biden/Harris ticket on the opening night of the DNC starting at 8:00 p.m. tonight. Plus, New Zealand extending its lockdown, delaying its election, after a cluster of cases threatened the once coronavirus-free country.