2 ms·

>We're a few weeks away from mass-testing in the USA. Mass-testing isn't a panacea and is only one piece of the puzzle. We can be implementing the other piece

by treis 7y ago

>We're a few weeks away from mass-testing in the USA. Mass-testing isn't a panacea and is only one piece of the puzzle. We can be implementing the other pieces while our testing capability continues to ramp up. >This isn't about "winning against the disease" anymore. Its about stalling for time so that our nurses have enough N95 masks to be safe while treating people again. Barring some manufacturing miracle we won't have enough disposable N95 masks for a long time. There are plenty of reusable N95 or better masks stockpiled around the country to provide one to every health care worker. We just haven't made a national decision to do that. >We're out of supplies. The nationwide stockpile of masks is depleted. Hospitals are running out of equipment. Stalling for a few weeks will help significantly. It's wishful thinking that a few weeks are going to change anything. We will have pretty much the same tools that we do now to fight the disease. The change that is needed is to make use of what we have.

dragontamer 7y ago
> It's wishful thinking that a few weeks are going to change anything When we have mass testing in a few weeks, things will be better. This isn't about "panacea", its about buying time so that our statistics can become more effective. We all know that our testing regime is buckling under the current load. No one trusts the numbers, aside from being a clear and gross underestimation of the overall COVID19 problem. At a minimum, in a few weeks when mass testing is available, we'll have better COVID19 numbers to make decisions off of. --------- We're clearly in a situation where there is more infected people than test kits! Doctors / hospitals are rationing the very few test kits they got and only testing people who they think already are infected AND are at high risk. Under these circumstances, our statistics and decision making framework is almost entirely guesswork. Yes, a few weeks will buy us important time. Important time where we can actually gather proper data (through proper testing). The most immediate goal for policy makers is to slow down the disease to the point where our statistics / data-gathering can catch up to reality. That way we stop relying upon guesswork.

by treis 7y ago

dragontamer 7y ago

> It's wishful thinking that a few weeks are going to change anything When we have mass testing in a few weeks, things will be better. This isn't about "panacea", its about buying time so that our statistics can become more effective. We all know that our testing regime is buckling under the current load. No one trusts the numbers, aside from being a clear and gross underestimation of the overall COVID19 problem. At a minimum, in a few weeks when mass testing is available, we'll have better COVID19 numbers to make decisions off of. --------- We're clearly in a situation where there is more infected people than test kits! Doctors / hospitals are rationing the very few test kits they got and only testing people who they think already are infected AND are at high risk. Under these circumstances, our statistics and decision making framework is almost entirely guesswork. Yes, a few weeks will buy us important time. Important time where we can actually gather proper data (through proper testing). The most immediate goal for policy makers is to slow down the disease to the point where our statistics / data-gathering can catch up to reality. That way we stop relying upon guesswork.