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I completely agree that increasing test capacity is the thing that blocks everything else, and we need to solve that first. But in order to try to generate the

I completely agree that increasing test capacity is the thing that blocks everything else, and we need to solve that first. But in order to try to generate the political will and get the backing to make this happen, it helps to get the word out about the big picture of exactly why having so many tests is important. New legislation is coming that provides some funding for testing, but out of $484 billion that it authorizes, only $25 billion in it for testing[0]. Meanwhile, a report from Harvard estimates that $50 to $300 billion will be needed[1]. So the amount of money made available so far is 1/2 to 1/12 of what one source has estimated that we need. --- [0] https://www.cnbc.com/2020/04/21/coronavirus-senate-passes-484-billion-small-business-relief-bill.html https://www.cnbc.com/2020/04/21/coronavirus-senate-passes-48... [1] See Appendix B starting on p. 42 of this PDF: https://ethics.harvard.edu/files/center-for-ethics/files/roadmaptopandemicresilience_updated_4.20.20.pdf https://ethics.harvard.edu/files/center-for-ethics/files/roa...

polygotdomain 7y ago
The political will should be fewer American lives lost. Politicians are framing this about the economy and states rights and other BS as a way to distract the public from the fact that people have died because we didn't act soon enough and decisively enough. I also don't think we need to get the word out about how testing is important. People are cooped up in their homes precisely because we don't know who has it and who doesn't. Testing could resolve that. I have little faith in the legislation from Washington for many reasons. The primary one being that before the crisis, during it, and at this very moment there is a lack of acknowledgment of the actual scale of this pandemic. Even worse a large part of the legislature fails to take this seriously, thus making the scale of the issue a secondary problem. What's been passed so far has already missed the mark as far as funding testing and properly ensuring that those who need the money get it. Instead, big business gets "relief" with little oversight, which given the past actions of this administration clearly isn't just by accident. The reality is that testing is still significantly behind and efforts to increase testing won't make the news cycles. I strongly doubt that we'd be able to scale up quickly enough to make a meaningful dent in this anymore than strictly following stay at home orders. Unfortunately even that is too much to ask us to do as a society it seems.

polygotdomain 7y ago

The political will should be fewer American lives lost. Politicians are framing this about the economy and states rights and other BS as a way to distract the public from the fact that people have died because we didn't act soon enough and decisively enough. I also don't think we need to get the word out about how testing is important. People are cooped up in their homes precisely because we don't know who has it and who doesn't. Testing could resolve that. I have little faith in the legislation from Washington for many reasons. The primary one being that before the crisis, during it, and at this very moment there is a lack of acknowledgment of the actual scale of this pandemic. Even worse a large part of the legislature fails to take this seriously, thus making the scale of the issue a secondary problem. What's been passed so far has already missed the mark as far as funding testing and properly ensuring that those who need the money get it. Instead, big business gets "relief" with little oversight, which given the past actions of this administration clearly isn't just by accident. The reality is that testing is still significantly behind and efforts to increase testing won't make the news cycles. I strongly doubt that we'd be able to scale up quickly enough to make a meaningful dent in this anymore than strictly following stay at home orders. Unfortunately even that is too much to ask us to do as a society it seems.