4 ms·

They aren’t testing most people with symptoms. No way will they start testing random people without.

by heimidal 7y ago

jvm___ 7y ago
They can't can they? I thought the US has a shortage of tests and lacks capacity to process them as well.
- perl4ever 7y ago
  I asked somebody today (union steward) and they suggested going to the hospital. If I decided I wanted to get tested, I think I would call my primary care doctor instead, or possibly an urgent care center and see what they said. I assume nobody wants you to waltz right in, even or especially the ER.
daniel_iversen 7y ago
They aren't doing much of anything really are they? I love that Denmark, with only 400-500 cases took the drastic approach of suspending schools, kindergartens and a lot of public and private people are going home: https://www.thelocal.dk/20200311/denmark-to-shut-all-schools-and-universities-to-fight-virus https://www.thelocal.dk/20200311/denmark-to-shut-all-schools...
- adventured 7y ago
  Only? That's more cases than the UK has. If you scale Denmark's 617 cases up to the US population, it's 36,000 cases equivalent. If you scale it to China, it'd be near 150,000. What's worthy of "only" about that? That's a shit show. A colossal failure, in the parlance currently being thrown at the US. How about Norway currently? 43,000 equivalent. How about Italy? 60,000 cases equivalent, with 5,500 deaths. Switzerland? 25,000 equivalent. Sweden? 20,000 equivalent. But I understand, America bad. It's the same obnoxious theme in every thread on HN right now. Europe's results - including Denmark - are not impressive at all. That's the actual situation.
  - wool_gather 7y ago
    We can compare these numbers in (hopefully) 8-10 months, after we have better information about the first incidence in various places, and especially the rate of testing. Right now, even your attempted normalization for population is meaningless because effectively the only thing that we know about the state of play in different places is that it's different. We don't know in what ways (let alone why).
  - cmurf 7y ago
    Using the word equivalent when there is no equivalent testing, and you're not accounting for the difference in initial exposure times, is deceptive. The lack of testing is admitted by the head of the NIH, multiple times, most recently today: The idea of anybody getting it easily, the way people in other countries are doing it, we're not set up for that. Do I think we should be? Yes. But we're not. That is a failing. It is a failing. Let's admit it. Dr. Anthony Fauci You do not know what the actual situation is.
  - krageon 7y ago
    When China was suffering, people were screaming at the top of their voice how unreliable they are and how bad they are. Now the US is suffering, and it has leadership that's easily as bad but you're defending it. It's fine to call out bad behaviour, but not if it's rooted in xenophobia and doublethink.
- asdfasgasdgasdg 7y ago
  US currently has 1/20th the number of cases as Denmark per unit population. Denmark is in the top five by this metric, and they aren't doing (up to now) any better a job than Italy at flattening the curve. The thinking probably goes, among people who think little but also get to decide, that it's not that big of a deal here in the US yet, and that further restriction and action would be unpopular. Or maybe the powers that be trust the invisible hand of the free market to solve the problem? It is true that many companies and other private organizations within the US are taking relatively drastic steps. Maybe the executive believes that municipalities and states will handle the issue, and that they will take the brunt of an unrest that results. But more is plainly needed lest we go the route that Italy has gone up til now.
  - jjeaff 7y ago
    Even if the invisible hand of the free market could solve this, the government is keeping this hand tied by passing things like price gouging laws. So not only are they not going to fix things themselves, they are going to actively stop the market from solving things.
  - jacquesm 7y ago
    Give it two weeks.
    - asdfasgasdgasdg 7y ago
      I think that is the only thing that is going to drive home the reality of what we're up against to the folks in charge. :( I for one am spending time in my backyard and in my house, and not many places else.
  - JamesBarney 7y ago
    Confirmed cases. We've also tested an order of magnitude less people per capita than Denmark
alamortsubite 7y ago
You're being really generous here. In most cases, we aren't even testing people who are symptomatic and whose BioFire panels come back negative, unless they also happen to have a travel history that includes an affected area overseas.
sp332 7y ago
They have started testing people who had contact specifically with people who are known to be infected. So there is a chance.
- brewdad 7y ago
  In the same household maybe. I seriously doubt they are testing everyone who bought a coffee from an infected barista (as an example, I have no idea if such a case exists in the US).
wool_gather 7y ago
Well, that's the point, isn't it? :/

They aren’t testing most people with symptoms. No way will they start testing random people without.

jvm___ 7y ago

They can't can they? I thought the US has a shortage of tests and lacks capacity to process them as well.

perl4ever 7y ago
I asked somebody today (union steward) and they suggested going to the hospital. If I decided I wanted to get tested, I think I would call my primary care doctor instead, or possibly an urgent care center and see what they said. I assume nobody wants you to waltz right in, even or especially the ER.

daniel_iversen 7y ago

They aren't doing much of anything really are they? I love that Denmark, with only 400-500 cases took the drastic approach of suspending schools, kindergartens and a lot of public and private people are going home: https://www.thelocal.dk/20200311/denmark-to-shut-all-schools-and-universities-to-fight-virus https://www.thelocal.dk/20200311/denmark-to-shut-all-schools...

adventured 7y ago
Only? That's more cases than the UK has. If you scale Denmark's 617 cases up to the US population, it's 36,000 cases equivalent. If you scale it to China, it'd be near 150,000. What's worthy of "only" about that? That's a shit show. A colossal failure, in the parlance currently being thrown at the US. How about Norway currently? 43,000 equivalent. How about Italy? 60,000 cases equivalent, with 5,500 deaths. Switzerland? 25,000 equivalent. Sweden? 20,000 equivalent. But I understand, America bad. It's the same obnoxious theme in every thread on HN right now. Europe's results - including Denmark - are not impressive at all. That's the actual situation.
- wool_gather 7y ago
  We can compare these numbers in (hopefully) 8-10 months, after we have better information about the first incidence in various places, and especially the rate of testing. Right now, even your attempted normalization for population is meaningless because effectively the only thing that we know about the state of play in different places is that it's different. We don't know in what ways (let alone why).
- cmurf 7y ago
  Using the word equivalent when there is no equivalent testing, and you're not accounting for the difference in initial exposure times, is deceptive. The lack of testing is admitted by the head of the NIH, multiple times, most recently today: The idea of anybody getting it easily, the way people in other countries are doing it, we're not set up for that. Do I think we should be? Yes. But we're not. That is a failing. It is a failing. Let's admit it. Dr. Anthony Fauci You do not know what the actual situation is.
- krageon 7y ago
  When China was suffering, people were screaming at the top of their voice how unreliable they are and how bad they are. Now the US is suffering, and it has leadership that's easily as bad but you're defending it. It's fine to call out bad behaviour, but not if it's rooted in xenophobia and doublethink.
asdfasgasdgasdg 7y ago
US currently has 1/20th the number of cases as Denmark per unit population. Denmark is in the top five by this metric, and they aren't doing (up to now) any better a job than Italy at flattening the curve. The thinking probably goes, among people who think little but also get to decide, that it's not that big of a deal here in the US yet, and that further restriction and action would be unpopular. Or maybe the powers that be trust the invisible hand of the free market to solve the problem? It is true that many companies and other private organizations within the US are taking relatively drastic steps. Maybe the executive believes that municipalities and states will handle the issue, and that they will take the brunt of an unrest that results. But more is plainly needed lest we go the route that Italy has gone up til now.
- jjeaff 7y ago
  Even if the invisible hand of the free market could solve this, the government is keeping this hand tied by passing things like price gouging laws. So not only are they not going to fix things themselves, they are going to actively stop the market from solving things.
- jacquesm 7y ago
  Give it two weeks.
  - asdfasgasdgasdg 7y ago
    I think that is the only thing that is going to drive home the reality of what we're up against to the folks in charge. :( I for one am spending time in my backyard and in my house, and not many places else.
- JamesBarney 7y ago
  Confirmed cases. We've also tested an order of magnitude less people per capita than Denmark

alamortsubite 7y ago

You're being really generous here. In most cases, we aren't even testing people who are symptomatic and whose BioFire panels come back negative, unless they also happen to have a travel history that includes an affected area overseas.

sp332 7y ago

They have started testing people who had contact specifically with people who are known to be infected. So there is a chance.

brewdad 7y ago
In the same household maybe. I seriously doubt they are testing everyone who bought a coffee from an infected barista (as an example, I have no idea if such a case exists in the US).

wool_gather 7y ago

Well, that's the point, isn't it? :/