Why isn't there more of an outcry that the US isn't testing more people for Coronovirus?

[Anonymous]

Sometimes it seems easier to be an ostrich.

[Anonymous]

Because if they don’t test then the officials can keep telling us it’s no big deal. Same way China tried to cover it up in the beginning.

[Anonymous]

It also doesn’t help that the medical community hasn’t been that loud about it. I still see stuff my doctors downplaying concerns. I’m not in medicine, but a different, highly analytical field, and I’d shout from the rooftops how bad this is due to the underlying mathematics, but no one would listen to me since it’s not my field.

And frankly, understanding the problem requires a grasp of statistics that just isn’t there for the general public or even most journalists, apparently. So it just isn’t getting attention because only a rare type of person is reading and understanding what it means that our testing is so delayed and minimal.

[Anonymous]

I hope Trump keeps having those MGAG rallies... He knows the best about the virus, more than the scientists.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:It really is a huge failing of the CDC. A complete and utter failure or the public health and safety of our country.

Why isn’t there an outcry - because most people weren’t paying attention to it until Italy blew up and went on lockdown so quickly. People can’t really relate to China, but they can relate to Europe. Now people are catching on but they still don’t understand how far behind we are.

This time next week I expect our numbers to explode.

The CDC has taken the fall for this, but I am wondering why the FDA hasn't. They were insisting that no one could use a test, even the WHO approved test, unless they specifically approved it. I am guessing that approval required overcoming a number of hurdles to show that a test was safe and effective.

It is the law that the FDA must approve medical tests, but they could have waived it in the current instance much earlier at least for public health laboratories in cities and states.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I don't understand why the US isn't testing more people for the Coronovirus. The letter from the nurse who treated a patient for coronavirus, has symptoms, but can't get tested is just insane. Korea has tested 140,000 people and can test 10,000 people a day. Why isn't the US testing thousands of people a day? Where is the outcry?

Because what is the point, really? Everyone is going to get it now. It is what it is. Sucks to be sick for sure, but what is the point of freaking out about it?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:It really is a huge failing of the CDC. A complete and utter failure or the public health and safety of our country.

Why isn’t there an outcry - because most people weren’t paying attention to it until Italy blew up and went on lockdown so quickly. People can’t really relate to China, but they can relate to Europe. Now people are catching on but they still don’t understand how far behind we are.

This time next week I expect our numbers to explode.

So true. I'm Asian American and was surprised to hear my colleagues go on and on about the early Italy cases when Korea had blown up a little earlier already with much bigger numbers. They didn't even realize Korea's numbers had gotten so bad in a week (at which point we had the convo). But I also have to confess that the China stuff seemed far away until it spread to Korea where I know people. I guess it's just human psychology.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:It really is a huge failing of the CDC. A complete and utter failure or the public health and safety of our country.

Why isn’t there an outcry - because most people weren’t paying attention to it until Italy blew up and went on lockdown so quickly. People can’t really relate to China, but they can relate to Europe. Now people are catching on but they still don’t understand how far behind we are.

This time next week I expect our numbers to explode.

The CDC has taken the fall for this, but I am wondering why the FDA hasn't. They were insisting that no one could use a test, even the WHO approved test, unless they specifically approved it. I am guessing that approval required overcoming a number of hurdles to show that a test was safe and effective.

It is the law that the FDA must approve medical tests, but they could have waived it in the current instance much earlier at least for public health laboratories in cities and states.

Is that so? I hadn't realized that. What a disappointment. I trusted our federal agencies...

[Anonymous]

Watch the California National Guard delivering test kits to the Grand Princess cruise ship.

https://twitter.com/i/status/1235745673582129153

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:It really is a huge failing of the CDC. A complete and utter failure or the public health and safety of our country.

Why isn’t there an outcry - because most people weren’t paying attention to it until Italy blew up and went on lockdown so quickly. People can’t really relate to China, but they can relate to Europe. Now people are catching on but they still don’t understand how far behind we are.

This time next week I expect our numbers to explode.

The CDC has taken the fall for this, but I am wondering why the FDA hasn't. They were insisting that no one could use a test, even the WHO approved test, unless they specifically approved it. I am guessing that approval required overcoming a number of hurdles to show that a test was safe and effective.

It is the law that the FDA must approve medical tests, but they could have waived it in the current instance much earlier at least for public health laboratories in cities and states.

Is that so? I hadn't realized that. What a disappointment. I trusted our federal agencies...

You should listen to the CDC’s teleconferences as they always do Q&A with the press and are always asked about the status of testing. The conference before the most recent one (so maybe on Saturday) went through the details of the issues of the test kits and the FDA.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Watch the California National Guard delivering test kits to the Grand Princess cruise ship.

https://twitter.com/i/status/1235745673582129153

Haze grey and underway

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I don't understand why the US isn't testing more people for the Coronovirus. The letter from the nurse who treated a patient for coronavirus, has symptoms, but can't get tested is just insane. Korea has tested 140,000 people and can test 10,000 people a day. Why isn't the US testing thousands of people a day? Where is the outcry?

Because what is the point, really? Everyone is going to get it now. It is what it is. Sucks to be sick for sure, but what is the point of freaking out about it?

It’s a question of resources. We don’t have enough respirators and hospital beds to handle the really sick people if everyone gets it at the same time. If it slowly moves through the community, we can handle it. If it zippily moves through, we can’t. So yea, on an individual level, if you’re young and relatively healthy it won’t matter much when you get it, but for those at greater risk, we don’t want them to all get it at the same time. So if people don’t feel well, it would benefit others if you lay low and avoid spreading it to other people.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:It really is a huge failing of the CDC. A complete and utter failure or the public health and safety of our country.

Why isn’t there an outcry - because most people weren’t paying attention to it until Italy blew up and went on lockdown so quickly. People can’t really relate to China, but they can relate to Europe. Now people are catching on but they still don’t understand how far behind we are.

This time next week I expect our numbers to explode.

The CDC has taken the fall for this, but I am wondering why the FDA hasn't. They were insisting that no one could use a test, even the WHO approved test, unless they specifically approved it. I am guessing that approval required overcoming a number of hurdles to show that a test was safe and effective.

It is the law that the FDA must approve medical tests, but they could have waived it in the current instance much earlier at least for public health laboratories in cities and states.

Is that so? I hadn't realized that. What a disappointment. I trusted our federal agencies...

They way I figure it, bureaucrats are going to bureaucrat until they get called on it. Which finally happened in this case last weekend.

On February 4, the FDA determined that an emergency existed that would allow for emergency use of testing it had not approved.

But...the FDA did not issue "a policy enabling laboratories to immediately use tests they developed and validated" until February 29, perhaps not so coincidentally the day after the first death in Washington. Three a half weeks after the emergency determination had been made.

https://www.fda.gov/news-events/press-announcements/coronavirus-covid-19-update-fda-issues-new-policy-help-expedite-availability-diagnostics

Also, if you may recall the first case in Seattle that was not travel linked was that of a teenage boy on February 28. There was a lot of mystery as to how he came to be tested as he met zero testing criteria. As it turns out there was a flu research study he was enrolled in and those doing the study were able to test him for Covid-19 without FDA approval because it was part of a study.

I believe I read, but can't find the source now, that one of the boy's contacts worked at the LTC facility, which led to uncovering the cause of the death there on February 29 and the new cases announced the same day.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:It really is a huge failing of the CDC. A complete and utter failure or the public health and safety of our country.

Why isn’t there an outcry - because most people weren’t paying attention to it until Italy blew up and went on lockdown so quickly. People can’t really relate to China, but they can relate to Europe. Now people are catching on but they still don’t understand how far behind we are.

This time next week I expect our numbers to explode.

The CDC has taken the fall for this, but I am wondering why the FDA hasn't. They were insisting that no one could use a test, even the WHO approved test, unless they specifically approved it. I am guessing that approval required overcoming a number of hurdles to show that a test was safe and effective.

It is the law that the FDA must approve medical tests, but they could have waived it in the current instance much earlier at least for public health laboratories in cities and states.

Is that so? I hadn't realized that. What a disappointment. I trusted our federal agencies...

They way I figure it, bureaucrats are going to bureaucrat until they get called on it. Which finally happened in this case last weekend.

On February 4, the FDA determined that an emergency existed that would allow for emergency use of testing it had not approved.

But...the FDA did not issue "a policy enabling laboratories to immediately use tests they developed and validated" until February 29, perhaps not so coincidentally the day after the first death in Washington. Three a half weeks after the emergency determination had been made.

https://www.fda.gov/news-events/press-announcements/coronavirus-covid-19-update-fda-issues-new-policy-help-expedite-availability-diagnostics

Also, if you may recall the first case in Seattle that was not travel linked was that of a teenage boy on February 28. There was a lot of mystery as to how he came to be tested as he met zero testing criteria. As it turns out there was a flu research study he was enrolled in and those doing the study were able to test him for Covid-19 without FDA approval because it was part of a study.

I believe I read, but can't find the source now, that one of the boy's contacts worked at the LTC facility, which led to uncovering the cause of the death there on February 29 and the new cases announced the same day.

That suggests to me that the real reason Seattle has emerged as a hot spot is because that flu study allowed them to do testing that other cities haven’t done. So there very likely are other active hot spots we just don’t know about.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:It really is a huge failing of the CDC. A complete and utter failure or the public health and safety of our country.

Why isn’t there an outcry - because most people weren’t paying attention to it until Italy blew up and went on lockdown so quickly. People can’t really relate to China, but they can relate to Europe. Now people are catching on but they still don’t understand how far behind we are.

This time next week I expect our numbers to explode.

The CDC has taken the fall for this, but I am wondering why the FDA hasn't. They were insisting that no one could use a test, even the WHO approved test, unless they specifically approved it. I am guessing that approval required overcoming a number of hurdles to show that a test was safe and effective.

It is the law that the FDA must approve medical tests, but they could have waived it in the current instance much earlier at least for public health laboratories in cities and states.

Is that so? I hadn't realized that. What a disappointment. I trusted our federal agencies...

They way I figure it, bureaucrats are going to bureaucrat until they get called on it. Which finally happened in this case last weekend.

On February 4, the FDA determined that an emergency existed that would allow for emergency use of testing it had not approved.

But...the FDA did not issue "a policy enabling laboratories to immediately use tests they developed and validated" until February 29, perhaps not so coincidentally the day after the first death in Washington. Three a half weeks after the emergency determination had been made.

https://www.fda.gov/news-events/press-announcements/coronavirus-covid-19-update-fda-issues-new-policy-help-expedite-availability-diagnostics

Also, if you may recall the first case in Seattle that was not travel linked was that of a teenage boy on February 28. There was a lot of mystery as to how he came to be tested as he met zero testing criteria. As it turns out there was a flu research study he was enrolled in and those doing the study were able to test him for Covid-19 without FDA approval because it was part of a study.

I believe I read, but can't find the source now, that one of the boy's contacts worked at the LTC facility, which led to uncovering the cause of the death there on February 29 and the new cases announced the same day.

That suggests to me that the real reason Seattle has emerged as a hot spot is because that flu study allowed them to do testing that other cities haven’t done. So there very likely are other active hot spots we just don’t know about.

NY asked for and received permission to use their own tests last week. Now they are another hotspot with 22 confirmed cases.