Japan uses targeted coronavirus testing; South Korea goes big. The U.S. faces a choice.

[Yo_Mama_Been_Loggin]

TOKYO —In East Asia, two rivals are grappling with the coronavirus pandemic in very different ways: mass testing versus targeted testing.

It's a debate over tactics that has profound implications in the United States and elsewhere, as health officials struggle to find the best methods to track and contain the virus.

South Korea has won global praise for swiftly making coronavirus tests widely available and has already tested more than 394,000 people. It has found 9,583 infected people.

Japan, a country whose population of about 127 million is more than twice that of South Korea, has conducted more than 48,000 tests on around 28,000 people and found 1,724 cases.

-snip-

In the United States, testing capacity has steadily increased; 685,000 tests were completed by Friday, according to the White House Coronavirus Task Force.

But at the same time, officials have shifted their messaging. The appeal now: If you have manageable symptoms, you don’t need to be tested and should stay home.

https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/world/japan-uses-targeted-coronavirus-testing-south-korea-goes-big-the-us-faces-a-choice/ar-BB11RTMn?li=BBnb7Kz

Waiting for Trump to accuse doctors of hoarding the test kits.

[pat_k]

1. Testing needed to find asymptomatic cases in essential jobs that interact with others.

As we have been told, over and over, you don't need to have symptoms to spread COVID-19.

In Iceland, 48 of 5000 asymptomatic people tested positive.

If 1 person in every 100 out there working with the public and interacting with fellow employees is positive, that is a serious problem.

Perhaps the job seems "too big" but I think the effort MUST be made. Every person identified and quarantined ends a chain of infections that would otherwise have spread to many, many others.

If states want to effectively contain, they need thousands of those 5 minute tests ready to run and hire, train, and deploy people to perform tests at every "essential" job site possible -- with the highest priority being those sites with the highest level of contact with the most people. (It is my understanding the machine used is already standard medical equipment, and they just need the tests. Hope that is correct.)

[crickets]

2. +1000000 ... Everyone needs to be tested. And this is just testing.

Once there's a vaccination, will the same cry rise up? "Well, we can't vaccinate everyone!" We darn well better try. The lack of big picture vision on this is maddening.