Leveraging AP’s global reach, reporters in Spain, Britain and the U.S. teamed up for a close look at the reliability of rapid tests being developed to track the spread of the new coronavirus.
Noticing that Spain was looking at rapid tests as a potential breakthrough in tracking the spread of the coronavirus, Aritz Parra, chief correspondent, Madrid, took the lead on the global story. Scientists in several countries had serious doubts about the accuracy of some of these blood tests and nasal swabs, even as British Prime Minister Boris Johnson touted them as a “game changer.” Spanish scientists said the rapid tests they reviewed were less than 30% accurate. The more established lab tests for coronavirus were about 84% accurate.
In a prime example of AP bureaus collaborating to elevate a story from a national to a global level, Parra worked with reporter Jill Lawless in London and others to broaden the perspective of the story while Madrid colleague Ciarán Giles boosted the reporting efforts in Spain. New York science and health reporter Mike Stobbe pulled together the feeds and added material from the U.S. https://bit.ly/344pzqm