COVID-19 testing in America--embarrassing on a lot of levels.

[AnnieA]

And worse than embarrassing, it's a dangerous public health failure.

Even knowing at least since the end of November 2019--hopefully earlier if we have any sort of capable spies in China--as of 8 March 2020, we've only had the capability to test 1.1 million of 327 million people. Testing discussion with Dr. Anthony Fauci, director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, starts at 4:54. Compounding the problem are the wildly divergent statements about our testing capabilities. I do not envy Dr. Fauci his job. I'm so thankful for him, especially his clarity and honesty.

 

[Pepper]

He is a fine man.

 

[AnnieA]

Contrasting the US testing debacle is Italy's proactive stance:

https://www.telegraph.co.uk/global-...itain-will-need-do-avoid-lockdown-fate-italy/

Excerpt: (emphasis mine)

The Italians have been doing more testing for the virus than others. In the early days, they were testing all suspected cases, not just those who were symptomatic. In the UK and most other countries, by contrast, only people with symptoms have been checked because it is not clear if asymptomatic cases can spread the virus.​

​

Some politicians in Italy are furious about the approach, saying it has exaggerated the problem and damaged the country’s reputation. But others are unapologetic.​

​

“Either you hide problems under a carpet, or you lift the carpet and you clean the floor,” Attilio Fontana, Lombardy’s president, said in an interview last week.​

I personally like the idea of a 'clean floor' with a lot less dead people under the carpet.

 

[Don M.]

I find some "contradictions" in the information we are receiving about this virus....primarily, if no one seems to know what causes it, or how it is being transmitted, etc., How can there be any reliable means of "testing" for it???

It seems to me that the Only way, currently, to control this outbreak is to strictly enforce a "quarantine". That way, either a person's own Immune System can either control the virus, or they don't survive.

Until a solid treatment/cure is developed for this strain....which will probably be many months from now....testing seems, to me, to be more of a means of trying to control the population "panic", rather than the actual transmission of this disease.

 

[AnnieA]

@Don M. We do know what causes it. It's a new virus in the coronavirus family. Scientists have had the genome sequence since early days in China. So there are accurate tests. The US CDC screwed the pooch with faulty test kits.

 

[C'est Moi]

I find some "contradictions" in the information we are receiving about this virus....primarily, if no one seems to know what causes it, or how it is being transmitted, etc., How can there be any reliable means of "testing" for it???

It seems to me that the Only way, currently, to control this outbreak is to strictly enforce a "quarantine". That way, either a person's own Immune System can either control the virus, or they don't survive.

Until a solid treatment/cure is developed for this strain....which will probably be many months from now....testing seems, to me, to be more of a means of trying to control the population "panic", rather than the actual transmission of this disease.

Agree. Contradictions, rumors, and a lot of misinformation being distributed. Not helped by the hysterics who seem to be obsessed with it.

 

[AnnieA]

It seems to me that the Only way, currently, to control this outbreak is to strictly enforce a "quarantine". That way, either a person's own Immune System can either control the virus, or they don't survive.

This would be ideal in order to slow the impact on our healthcare infrastructure, but will never work in America. Out of ignorance, arrogance or a combo of the two, too many Americans would violate quarantine.