We need lots more coronavirus testing capability, fast

[Tiny]

It's not as bad as Wuhan was yet, but northern Italy is on its knees. There aren't nearly enough hospital beds. They have to perform triage, to decide who will live and who will die. If you're over 70 you don't get a ventilator, so you're condemned to death if you can't breath on your own. This is the most prosperous part of Italy by the way, and has a modern, first world health care system that's equal to ours.

There's an oasis amid the carnage, the town of Vo, near Venice, where the coronavirus has been eliminated by testing and retesting every one of the town's 3300 inhabitants. First time through, they found that 3% of the population was infected. They isolated this group. They identified asymptomatic carriers, like typhoid Mary, each of whom can transmit the disease to ten other people. Anyway, now not a single one of the town's inhabitants tests positive for the coronavirus.

This is like what South Korea has done. By aggressive testing and quarantining they've been able to avoid becoming another Italy.

More lab tests, this needs to be a top priority. The dumb shit politicians and the FDA and the CDC and the private and state and local labs need to make tests widely available, and those infected need to be quarantined. Otherwise we're fucked. We're looking at waiting until the winter flu season in 2022/2023 for a vaccine, so testing, social distancing, and isolation are all we've got. That and attention to hygienic methods of hand washing and nose picking.

Here are a couple of good articles, the first on what happened in the town of Vo:

https://www.ft.com/content/0dba7ea8-...d-da70cff6e4d3

And here's an article on what went wrong with the FDA and CDC, so that getting tests was delayed. Take the parts about Trump with a pinch of salt. For example, they criticize him for trying to open testing up to everyone, not just those with symptoms, which was exactly what he should have done:

https://www.newyorker.com/news/news-...ting-in-the-us

OK, back to my sabbatical. These are dangerous times for people over 60 and with underlying health conditions. Be wise and be safe!

[eccieuser9500]

Originally Posted by Tiny

More lab tests, this needs to be a top priority. The dumb shit politicians and the FDA and the CDC and the private and state and local labs need to make tests widely available, and those infected need to be quarantined. Otherwise we're fucked.

OK, back to my sabbatical. These are dangerous times for people over 60 and with underlying health conditions. Be wise and be safe!

[dilbert firestorm]

How reliable are these tests??


there have been reports of false positives and false negatives.

[HoeHummer]

Originally Posted by dilbert firestorm

How reliable are these tests??


there have been reports of false positives and false negatives.

People are saying ...

I’m hearing from a lot of people ...

It’s a hoax...

OK, dillsy. dillsy, OK.

You don’t have to believe in the virus. But STFU already and wash your hands, for Chrissakes!

[gnadfly]

I agree that at this point the test don't seem that reliable.
There's too many people who aren't sick but are testing positive. Those who are testing positive who are celebrities or athletes say they are feeling "fine."

IMO, the big head scratcher is the "You could have it but not experience any symptoms."

[farmstud60]

The problem is not the number of test kits but lab space to do the testing. It also doesn't help that people are so paranoid that they lie about exposure to get a test. Also, you could test negative today and get the covid-19 virus tomorrow.



The big thing to remember is that the 80 to 85 percent of the people that get covid-19 have very light symptoms. A small percentage will die, maybe 1%. I haven't tried to calculate it out, but my hunch is that you stand a better chance of getting killed in a car accident than covid-19.


It is important to social distance, as those that get secondary infections get quite sick, and even those numbers could slam the health care system in some areas. A positive test is not a death warrant though, so try to relax a little bit.

[nevergaveitathought]

e commerce survives as any does any pharma announcing they are working on a vaccine

there is and will continue to be a realignment in our sources of supply and in our expression of demand

and the panic is certainly, in part, of a political nature

its not politically viable to be seen as, even in some small way, dismissive of the panic or to encourage any form of normality

and so fighting the virus has become an all out war, with the economy the first casualty

global warming may be part of the solution as the virus gets fat and lethargic and less virulent in warm weather...if it were only so

[HedonistForever]

The purpose of a test as I understand it, is to find out who has it and isolate them but we are fast approaching if not already there, saying we should all be isolated and quarantine ourselves in our homes. Wouldn't it then be more advantageous since we don't have enough test kits to test all these paranoid people lining up to be tested who have no symptoms at all? And what is the cure if you test positive and have the virus? There is none. I guess a few can be saved with very aggressive, very expensive care but I don't believe in very aggressive, very expensive care for people over 70 and I'm 72.


We are all now suppose to self quarantine so why do we need a test to tell us who should be quarantined if we are all quarantined already? Do people with the flu go to hospitals and die in those hospitals? Yes they do.

[tinypenis]

We need more testing? We need a lot more calming down. The response to this "pandemic" is so over the top ridiculous.

[HedonistForever]

Originally Posted by tinypenis

We need more testing? We need a lot more calming down. The response to this "pandemic" is so over the top ridiculous.

Agree

[dilbert firestorm]

Originally Posted by HoeHummer

People are saying ...

I’m hearing from a lot of people ...

It’s a hoax...

OK, dillsy. dillsy, OK.

You don’t have to believe in the virus. But STFU already and wash your hands, for Chrissakes!

fuck you hoeshit!!! i never said it was a hoax.



wash your fucking mouth with anti-bacterial soap.

[dilbert firestorm]

Originally Posted by tinypenis

We need more testing? We need a lot more calming down. The response to this "pandemic" is so over the top ridiculous.

the media is not helping in this case.

[friendly fred]

I agree we need more testing then isolate the people with the disease - and this is rapidly coming to pass.

We should be on top of this thing soon - a week or two to get a lot of tests done and results back.

[Tiny]

Originally Posted by friendly fred

I agree we need more testing then isolate the people with the disease - and this is rapidly coming to pass.

We should be on top of this thing soon - a week or two to get a lot of tests done and results back.

Agreed, 100%. I don't get how it's better for the economy to have everyone stay home from work instead of identifying infected people, who initially will be a very small % of the population, and quarantine them.

Most of the world is taking this seriously, which is a good thing, because otherwise this would be like the 1918 Spanish flu. You do nothing and you'll end up with people dying waiting for hospital beds.

[gfejunkie]

Originally Posted by Tiny

the 1918 Spanish flu.

Don't you know that's racist?