3 ms·

I really don’t understand why the govt isn’t doing regular testing of a random sample of the population. All it takes is ~500 tests in each state per week to g

I really don’t understand why the govt isn’t doing regular testing of a random sample of the population. All it takes is ~500 tests in each state per week to get a significant sample size. And, it would definitively answer what the population infection rate is, and how it’s trending.

grecy 6y ago
It's so blatantly clear they want to cover it up, and lie about the real number of infections.
apexalpha 6y ago
In my country they check bloodbanks periodically in combination with sewage I think to get a sample of Covid and traces of it.
amluto 6y ago
I suspect their are two reasons. The first is incompetence. The second is that the President does not want to know how many cases their are. (He has explicitly stated the latter.)
quux 6y ago
I think they were doing this in New York back in may, and it did yield some surprising results that influenced policy. Not sure if it was just antibody testing or PCR as well.
twblalock 6y ago
Even California, which was praised for locking down first and longest, is behind on testing and contract tracing. You can blame ignorance or anti-science beliefs for the problems in some states, but the California state government clearly takes the virus seriously, is following expert advice, and still can't meet testing and tracing goals. Something else is going on here. Dysfunction of government is the answer. The Federal government is pushing responsibility onto states, and states are pushing responsibility onto county governments. Most county governments are not equipped to deal with pandemics. There is just no way this is going to go well. The countries that did a good job testing and tracing had a central coordinated effort from the top.
- pwarner 6y ago
  Yes, it was the recent failures in CA that I am seeing living here as evidence that the rest of the country, and large chunks of the world, are also doomed to head down the same path. CA had all the right initial steps catching it early, and had every chance to move forward, but could not execute. I imagine Canada, NY and even Europe may end up following, although I really really really hope I am wrong.
  - twblalock 6y ago
    It seems like Europe is already executing better than the United States. Asian countries definitely did. The real problems may be in Africa and South America where state capacity is lacking or there is leadership that wants to ignore the virus, e.g. Brazil. Failure to execute is why I will not support another lockdown. We squandered the time we bought with the first lockdown, and I don't see a reason to believe it would go differently the second time. Not with the government we have.
rrrrrrrrrrrryan 6y ago
I'm a data person myself, and while it's immensely frustrating to me that we can't make apples-to-apples comparisons between states, I don't think data collection is the actual issue. They already have enough actionable data to identify where the outbreaks are, how fast they're spreading, etc. but local governments will make decisions however they want anyway. If our federal government wants to push us to re-open, the best thing they could do is provide a substantial amount of federal funding so that tests are available, for free, to anyone who wants one.

grecy 6y ago

It's so blatantly clear they want to cover it up, and lie about the real number of infections.

apexalpha 6y ago

In my country they check bloodbanks periodically in combination with sewage I think to get a sample of Covid and traces of it.

amluto 6y ago

I suspect their are two reasons. The first is incompetence. The second is that the President does not want to know how many cases their are. (He has explicitly stated the latter.)

quux 6y ago

I think they were doing this in New York back in may, and it did yield some surprising results that influenced policy. Not sure if it was just antibody testing or PCR as well.

twblalock 6y ago

Even California, which was praised for locking down first and longest, is behind on testing and contract tracing. You can blame ignorance or anti-science beliefs for the problems in some states, but the California state government clearly takes the virus seriously, is following expert advice, and still can't meet testing and tracing goals. Something else is going on here. Dysfunction of government is the answer. The Federal government is pushing responsibility onto states, and states are pushing responsibility onto county governments. Most county governments are not equipped to deal with pandemics. There is just no way this is going to go well. The countries that did a good job testing and tracing had a central coordinated effort from the top.

pwarner 6y ago
Yes, it was the recent failures in CA that I am seeing living here as evidence that the rest of the country, and large chunks of the world, are also doomed to head down the same path. CA had all the right initial steps catching it early, and had every chance to move forward, but could not execute. I imagine Canada, NY and even Europe may end up following, although I really really really hope I am wrong.
- twblalock 6y ago
  It seems like Europe is already executing better than the United States. Asian countries definitely did. The real problems may be in Africa and South America where state capacity is lacking or there is leadership that wants to ignore the virus, e.g. Brazil. Failure to execute is why I will not support another lockdown. We squandered the time we bought with the first lockdown, and I don't see a reason to believe it would go differently the second time. Not with the government we have.

rrrrrrrrrrrryan 6y ago

I'm a data person myself, and while it's immensely frustrating to me that we can't make apples-to-apples comparisons between states, I don't think data collection is the actual issue. They already have enough actionable data to identify where the outbreaks are, how fast they're spreading, etc. but local governments will make decisions however they want anyway. If our federal government wants to push us to re-open, the best thing they could do is provide a substantial amount of federal funding so that tests are available, for free, to anyone who wants one.