Why We Still Need To Test Widely For Coronavirus

[Yo_Mama_Been_Loggin]

The response to the novel coronavirus (COVID-19) in the United States has changed dramatically over the last week, with President Trump declaring a national emergency and multiple states and cities essentially going into lockdown. One thing that hasn’t changed: the U.S. is still short on coronavirus tests. While the administration says supply has increased, many sick Americans are still having trouble finding a way to know if they have coronavirus.

There were clear benefits to robust testing early in the spread of the virus. But now that we’ve missed that window, it might seem like testing is less of a priority, at least in areas where the virus is already widespread. After all, if we’re all behaving as though everyone around us already has COVID-19, as New York City officials reportedly told U.N. delegations they should, why do we need to know who actually does?

But there’s still much that can be learned — and lives that could be saved — by increasing testing across the country immediately. And in fact, the social distancing measures being taken right now are as much to make up for not testing sooner as they are to slow the virus’ spread. Here are four ways that widespread testing is still a critical step in our coronavirus defense:

1. Testing helps allocate resources
“This is basic disease surveillance,” said Gregg Gonsalves, a microbial disease epidemiologist at Yale University. “We can’t begin to control this epidemic unless we know where this is and how many cases we’ve got.”

https://fivethirtyeight.com/features/why-we-still-need-to-test-widely-for-coronavirus/

[msongs]

1. good interview on rachel about a thermometer that is tracking the disease by

the users' taking their temps morning and night

[juxtaposed]

2. when will we start testing is the question ??

[KY_EnviroGuy]

3. I think there's a number of valid reasons every suspected case should be tested.

Last edited Thu Mar 19, 2020, 04:23 AM - Edit history (1)

* Covid-19 damages the lungs of most all infected patients and that should be in patient's medical records and a patient's MD should be aware of it for future treatments (surgery, respiratory and cancer treatments, etc.)

* The CDC needs accurate records of disease outbreaks and spread patterns for planing for future outbreaks.

* Should future currently unknown post-infection complications arise from this disease, all having had the infection need to be made aware of those issues.

* If the extent of a disease outbreak is not thoroughly understood, vaccine and treatment developers may not work aggressively to complete those products or even drop the research all together. In addition, no stores of vaccines or treatment supplies would be on hand.

* Insurance companies need to know the exact nature of all illnesses in a populace for setting rates and planning for future outbreaks.

I'm sure there are more I haven't thought of.......