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The us is already running more then 100.00@ test a day which is great, and will help us on the downward side of the slope, but right now the focus needs to be o

The us is already running more then 100.00@ test a day which is great, and will help us on the downward side of the slope, but right now the focus needs to be on N95 masks and ventalators.

ineedasername 7y ago
I'm not sure I agree with your premise on tests primarily helping on the down slope. However, even if that's the case, we don't have to choose between masks, ventilators, and tests. All 3 can be pursued at the same time without harming other efforts. The manufacture & supply logistics of these items don't really overlap. No one is going to stop making & shipping masks or ventilators because of this.
busymom0 7y ago
> 100.00@ Did you make a typo or am I unfamiliar with that symbol? I know they are up to 100k tests per day which is supposed to go up to 150k next week.
joe_the_user 7y ago
Lab tests can take up to 10 days now. That's a really serious problem. A fast test would be much more useful. Of course, there are other equipment problems. N95 masks, PPE equipment, ventilators. And there's the problem of creating more quarantine areas where the infected can go and not infect their families and friends. There's problem of making the lockdowns tighter and more rational (grocery stores should be forced to do curbsite service, perhaps with grants from the state. The state could contract with Instacart also). There's the problem of more people doing contact tracing. There's the problem of prevent landlords and others from evicting and harassing health care workers (for possibly carrying the virus). There are many problems but arguing about "where the focus needs to be" seems counter-productive. All of this stuff crucial.
- jliptzin 7y ago
  I’m not sure why there’s an obsession with testing right now. If everyone is supposed to be isolating no matter what, what difference does it make if you have a covid test or not? If you have any symptoms at all, you should stay at home and isolate at least until you’re all better, whether or not you took a COVID test. From what I understand it’s the asymptomatic cases that are the problem, and they’re not getting tested anyway. It seems to only make sense once you’re in the hospital so the doctor knows what to treat, but a test that takes 10 days to come back is useless anyway, plus there’s probably other ways for doctors to tell whether you have covid, if you’re displaying severe symptoms.
  - joe_the_user 7y ago
    I’m not sure why there’s an obsession with testing right now. Some people, grocery store workers and emergency workers are expected to be working. If you could test such workers as they show up at work, these work places would be much safer. The "shelter in place" order is pretty as leaky as a sieve to be honest - people are still buying groceries at crowded stores because they don't have a choice. So yeah, if you could really confine everyone for three weeks, the problem would go away quicker but now, when that's not really what's happening, tests as a tool seem useful. From what I understand it’s the asymptomatic cases that are the problem, and they’re not getting tested anyway. When you have a ten minute test, why not test asymptomatic people? Plus also, we need to be working hard now so we have testing, contract tracing and quarantine method available later, when they are need to "mop up" the remaining cases.
    - kitteh 7y ago
      There are people who work in very essential roles (think power plants) who are already facing challenges with COVID right now. Ive heard a few stories about folks at plants where they've divided up teams in ways to prevent groups from mixing (to reduce the spread) and every time someones goes on or off shift fills out a sympton questionnaire and takes a temperature. This in addition to setting up to have people live on site. Having a ten minute test would help a ton in this area.
    - 2sk21 7y ago
      This is absolutely correct - we need all front line people-facing workers to be tested on a daily basis.
  - setr 7y ago
    Because western quarantine isn't true quarantine, and because what you really want to do is take every person who shows up with COVID-19 and then find out where they were for the last two weeks, and quarantine everyone they touched and do a proper quarantine on them. But since that's not feasible, the alternative is to test as early as possible and hard-quarantine immediately -- by testing everyone constantly and everywhere, for which you really need sufficiently real-time results. Right now, with soft-quarantine,the virus is still spreading, and the timer refreshing -- as soon as people are out and about again, rates will spike up again. Soft-quarantine is a delaying tactic (smoothening the curve), but not a solution. But we also can't soft-quarantine for that long, because it's crushing the economy. If we keep doing it, there won't be much to go back to. You need a test, and a fast one, or you don't have much
- Dahoon 7y ago
  >Lab tests can take up to 10 days now. There are already tests that can do it in 1-2 hours and without reagents that are running out. I know at least Denmark and Spain is using it (it is made in Denmark but it is published openly).
deleted 7y ago
[deleted]
lostapathy 7y ago
The good thing is that I doubt the factories working on either are readily interchangeable. Lab equipment companies are not going to turn out masks en masse on short notice, nor would textile companies start turning out test kits.

The us is already running more then 100.00@ test a day which is great, and will help us on the downward side of the slope, but right now the focus needs to be on N95 masks and ventalators.

ineedasername 7y ago

I'm not sure I agree with your premise on tests primarily helping on the down slope. However, even if that's the case, we don't have to choose between masks, ventilators, and tests. All 3 can be pursued at the same time without harming other efforts. The manufacture & supply logistics of these items don't really overlap. No one is going to stop making & shipping masks or ventilators because of this.

busymom0 7y ago

> 100.00@ Did you make a typo or am I unfamiliar with that symbol? I know they are up to 100k tests per day which is supposed to go up to 150k next week.

joe_the_user 7y ago

Lab tests can take up to 10 days now. That's a really serious problem. A fast test would be much more useful. Of course, there are other equipment problems. N95 masks, PPE equipment, ventilators. And there's the problem of creating more quarantine areas where the infected can go and not infect their families and friends. There's problem of making the lockdowns tighter and more rational (grocery stores should be forced to do curbsite service, perhaps with grants from the state. The state could contract with Instacart also). There's the problem of more people doing contact tracing. There's the problem of prevent landlords and others from evicting and harassing health care workers (for possibly carrying the virus). There are many problems but arguing about "where the focus needs to be" seems counter-productive. All of this stuff crucial.

jliptzin 7y ago
I’m not sure why there’s an obsession with testing right now. If everyone is supposed to be isolating no matter what, what difference does it make if you have a covid test or not? If you have any symptoms at all, you should stay at home and isolate at least until you’re all better, whether or not you took a COVID test. From what I understand it’s the asymptomatic cases that are the problem, and they’re not getting tested anyway. It seems to only make sense once you’re in the hospital so the doctor knows what to treat, but a test that takes 10 days to come back is useless anyway, plus there’s probably other ways for doctors to tell whether you have covid, if you’re displaying severe symptoms.
- joe_the_user 7y ago
  I’m not sure why there’s an obsession with testing right now. Some people, grocery store workers and emergency workers are expected to be working. If you could test such workers as they show up at work, these work places would be much safer. The "shelter in place" order is pretty as leaky as a sieve to be honest - people are still buying groceries at crowded stores because they don't have a choice. So yeah, if you could really confine everyone for three weeks, the problem would go away quicker but now, when that's not really what's happening, tests as a tool seem useful. From what I understand it’s the asymptomatic cases that are the problem, and they’re not getting tested anyway. When you have a ten minute test, why not test asymptomatic people? Plus also, we need to be working hard now so we have testing, contract tracing and quarantine method available later, when they are need to "mop up" the remaining cases.
  - kitteh 7y ago
    There are people who work in very essential roles (think power plants) who are already facing challenges with COVID right now. Ive heard a few stories about folks at plants where they've divided up teams in ways to prevent groups from mixing (to reduce the spread) and every time someones goes on or off shift fills out a sympton questionnaire and takes a temperature. This in addition to setting up to have people live on site. Having a ten minute test would help a ton in this area.
  - 2sk21 7y ago
    This is absolutely correct - we need all front line people-facing workers to be tested on a daily basis.
- setr 7y ago
  Because western quarantine isn't true quarantine, and because what you really want to do is take every person who shows up with COVID-19 and then find out where they were for the last two weeks, and quarantine everyone they touched and do a proper quarantine on them. But since that's not feasible, the alternative is to test as early as possible and hard-quarantine immediately -- by testing everyone constantly and everywhere, for which you really need sufficiently real-time results. Right now, with soft-quarantine,the virus is still spreading, and the timer refreshing -- as soon as people are out and about again, rates will spike up again. Soft-quarantine is a delaying tactic (smoothening the curve), but not a solution. But we also can't soft-quarantine for that long, because it's crushing the economy. If we keep doing it, there won't be much to go back to. You need a test, and a fast one, or you don't have much
Dahoon 7y ago
>Lab tests can take up to 10 days now. There are already tests that can do it in 1-2 hours and without reagents that are running out. I know at least Denmark and Spain is using it (it is made in Denmark but it is published openly).

deleted 7y ago

[deleted]

lostapathy 7y ago

The good thing is that I doubt the factories working on either are readily interchangeable. Lab equipment companies are not going to turn out masks en masse on short notice, nor would textile companies start turning out test kits.