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Related: Editorials & Other Articles, Issue Forums, Alliance Forums, Region ForumsWhy We Still Need To Test Widely For Coronavirus
The response to the novel coronavirus (COVID-19) in the United States has changed dramatically over the last week, with President Trump declaring a national emergency and multiple states and cities essentially going into lockdown. One thing that hasnt changed: the U.S. is still short on coronavirus tests. While the administration says supply has increased, many sick Americans are still having trouble finding a way to know if they have coronavirus.
There were clear benefits to robust testing early in the spread of the virus. But now that weve missed that window, it might seem like testing is less of a priority, at least in areas where the virus is already widespread. After all, if were all behaving as though everyone around us already has COVID-19, as New York City officials reportedly told U.N. delegations they should, why do we need to know who actually does?
But theres still much that can be learned and lives that could be saved by increasing testing across the country immediately. And in fact, the social distancing measures being taken right now are as much to make up for not testing sooner as they are to slow the virus spread. Here are four ways that widespread testing is still a critical step in our coronavirus defense:
1. Testing helps allocate resources
This is basic disease surveillance, said Gregg Gonsalves, a microbial disease epidemiologist at Yale University. We cant begin to control this epidemic unless we know where this is and how many cases weve got.
https://fivethirtyeight.com/features/why-we-still-need-to-test-widely-for-coronavirus/
msongs
(67,413 posts)the users' taking their temps morning and night
juxtaposed
(2,778 posts)KY_EnviroGuy
(14,492 posts)Last edited Thu Mar 19, 2020, 04:23 AM - Edit history (1)
* Covid-19 damages the lungs of most all infected patients and that should be in patient's medical records and a patient's MD should be aware of it for future treatments (surgery, respiratory and cancer treatments, etc.)
* The CDC needs accurate records of disease outbreaks and spread patterns for planing for future outbreaks.
* Should future currently unknown post-infection complications arise from this disease, all having had the infection need to be made aware of those issues.
* If the extent of a disease outbreak is not thoroughly understood, vaccine and treatment developers may not work aggressively to complete those products or even drop the research all together. In addition, no stores of vaccines or treatment supplies would be on hand.
* Insurance companies need to know the exact nature of all illnesses in a populace for setting rates and planning for future outbreaks.
I'm sure there are more I haven't thought of.......