A new message on coronavirus in
hard-hit areas: Don’t get tested
Washington Post,
by
Carolyn Y. Johnson
&
Lena Sun
Original Article
Posted By: NorthernDog,
3/21/2020 2:04:08 PM
Health officials in New York, California and other hard-hit parts of the country are restricting coronavirus testing to health care workers and people who are hospitalized, saying the battle to contain the virus is lost and we are moving into a new phase of the pandemic response. As cases spike sharply in those places, they are hunkering down for an onslaught, and directing scarce resources where they are needed most to save people’s lives. Instead of encouraging broad testing of the public, they’re focused on conserving masks, ventilators, intensive care beds — and on getting still-limited tests to health care
Reply 1 - Posted by:
MissGrits 3/21/2020 2:20:25 PM (No. 353405)
And we thought that the “ratcheting up” couldn’t get any worse than Kavanaugh, Russia and the impeachment fiasco! Trump needs to say enough is enough and send everyone back to work. People who are afraid of catching something can stay home! It’s not that complicated!
5 people like this.
Reply 2 - Posted by:
Northcross 3/21/2020 2:21:13 PM (No. 353406)
Have we heard anything lately from that infobabe who said Republicans will be hit hardest because they are stupid?
5 people like this.
Reply 3 - Posted by:
DVC 3/21/2020 2:24:50 PM (No. 353413)
When I was doing problem solving in engineering, many times we had a failure of an electronic part. Engineers always want to "do testing" to discover "why". Many times we had very limited time and available things which could be done, and testing takes time. I have stood up in a number of meetings and said, "Yes, I would like to have the results to those tests, too. But we need to think hard. What, exactly, will we be doing differently based on the outcome of those tests? They cost money and they cost us time. If we are going to do pretty much the same things regardless of which way it turns out....why waste the time and money?"
Yeah, that. Just "it would be nice to know" isn't always a compelling reason, especially when tests are short and you aren't going to really do anything different, either way. Treat the symptoms is all we can do now, common flu, common cold, or Wuhan flu.
18 people like this.
Reply 4 - Posted by:
lakerman1 3/21/2020 2:42:26 PM (No. 353435)
i agree with #3.
If you test negative for the Kung Flu today, you could be exposed tomorrow, and quickly test positive, should you be exposed to the virus. Medical workers should be regularly tested.
(there was a silly 1970s song, called Kung Fu Dancing. And fighting. So Kung Flu sounds like the perfect label for the virus.
Lyme Disease was first found in Lyme Connecticut, German Measles in Germany, Spanish Flu in Spain. All good labels.
8 people like this.
Reply 5 - Posted by:
LC Chihuahua 3/21/2020 2:56:45 PM (No. 353450)
Cuomo and Newsom can make any outlandish statements they want, and with no testing there will be no way to disprove it. Next we will hear how the bodies are stacking up like cordwood ala Katrina.
3 people like this.
Reply 6 - Posted by:
chillijilli 3/21/2020 3:15:04 PM (No. 353479)
Well I think we should know why the Japanese company Kurabo is selling covid19 testing kits which give results in 15 minutes and we can't have the same thing. I don't think it's a conspiracy but somebody in the Administration should be able to answer that very simple question.
5 people like this.
Reply 7 - Posted by:
DVC 3/21/2020 3:24:48 PM (No. 353496)
#6, how accurate is it? "A test" can be a LOT of things. At least one report indicated that the S. Korean testing (which was massive and everyone thought it was wonderful), had about a 50% false positive rate, meaning you get 100 people "tested to have Wuhan flu" and 50 of them don't actually have it. What sort of problems does that cause?
If this Japanese test is fast and accurate, and can be made in quantity, it should be picked up by other makers, although there may be some "our country first" outlook, especially from the Japanese.
4 people like this.
Reply 8 - Posted by:
stablemoney 3/21/2020 3:58:43 PM (No. 353525)
The refocusing makes a lot more sense. The healthcare workers are most at risk, and are in most need of the tests and equipment.
3 people like this.
Reply 9 - Posted by:
davew 3/21/2020 4:00:42 PM (No. 353526)
No official has ever advocated anything like what the authors of this article are reporting. The thrust of the testing response has always been the same from day one based on established medical practices that use testing to confirm a probable diagnosis. If you have been in contact with someone who was confirmed to have the virus or you have a specific set of symptoms that are consistent with the illness then the probability of you testing positive, however tiny, is sufficient to justify getting tested. If the probability is below this threshold then testing people is wasting resources unnecessarily.
The logic of the article is that if we had tested everyone regardless of probability we would have reduced the spread of the disease. This is a false conclusion because we would have run out of tests using them on the vast majority of people who were negative and not had enough tests to confirm the virus in health care workers or higher risk people or who need hospitalization or other interventions to save their lives. It would cost lives, not save them.
2 people like this.
Reply 10 - Posted by:
red1066 3/21/2020 4:36:36 PM (No. 353558)
Here's a idea. How about giving everyone a N-95 mask, tell everyone that they must wear them when outside their home, and let's resume a somewhat normal life. Yes bars will be affected, and talking on the phone will present a challenge when working, but at least life can continue with some normalcy for the time being.
2 people like this.
Reply 11 - Posted by:
DVC 3/21/2020 6:25:06 PM (No. 353640)
#10, the primary reason is that they don't work. Most transmission is via surfaces to hands to eyes, nose or mouth.
2 people like this.
Reply 12 - Posted by:
ROLFNader 3/21/2020 7:59:07 PM (No. 353727)
Almost read a lot of this article before I thought it wise to check out the source- mmmm hmmmm, WAPOLITICO.
2 people like this.
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In the meantime liberals keep pushing the conspiracy theory that inadequate testing (Trump's fault) is what caused the outbreak.