Reditus Labs has found one instance of the Indian variant of the Coronavirus in Bloomington-Normal.
Pekin-based Reditus labs has discovered the Indian double mutant variant of the coronavirus in Bloomington-Normal. The lab tests nasal samples throughout the country.
Reditus said the latest batch of 371 randomly selected positive samples showed a single instance of the so-called B.1.617 Indian double mutant variant. Preliminary evidence indicates the Indian variant is potentially more dangerous than previous strains of the virus, Reditus said.
India is the global hot spot for the pandemic at the moment with nearly 4,000 deaths and 287,000 cases Wednesday alone, according to that country s health ministry.
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Unit 5 schools will receive $1 million in free COVID-19 testing. It s a joint donation from electric vehicle manufacturer Rivian and testing company Reditus Laboratories.
Rivian kicked in $500,000 to Pekin-based Reditus, which the company matched. The donation will pay for about 9,000 onsite COVID-19 tests for students and staff at no cost to the district.
The effort comes after a communitywide spike in positive cases forced the district to return to remote learning in mid-November.
In a statement, Reditus CEO Aaron Rossi said he hopes the testing allows Unit 5 to bring children back into the classroom when it s safe. I am a McLean County resident and my wife and I have four school-age children,” Rossi said. “So, we know firsthand the challenges of remote learning. It’s a tremendous hardship on the family. Everyone’s goal is to get the children back into the school buildings.”