'Totally unacceptable': Testing delays force labs to prioritize COVID-19 tests for some, not others

[TomCADem]

While I am sure that Republicans will point to a decrease in confirmed cases, the question is whether this decrease is due a plateau in the spread of Covid-19 or is it because of testing delays and shortages. After all, Texas just hit a record of 1 in 5 tests coming in as positive.



https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/health/2020/08/09/covid-testing-crunch-highlights-inequities-who-get-results-when/5558899002/

David Rohlfing, a Queens resident and high school English teacher, attended outdoor picnics, an outdoor bar and a Black Lives Matter protest earlier this summer. Though he did not feel sick, he wanted to get tested for COVID-19 before visiting his sister in Connecticut.

On July 6, he was tested at a New York City-run site and was told results could take a week. He checked a patient testing portal every day. On July 23 – 17 days after he took the test – he learned he did not have the disease.

Now Rohlfing wonders whether there will be enough testing when he returns to the classroom in September. He wants a guarantee he can take a test with quick results if he interacts with an infected student or staffer. If there is no such assurance, and testing has not improved, he might not go back to class. “I’m not going to do it,” he said. “I will join any effort to not open the schools if that part of the piece is not in place.”

The slow turnaround time for patients like Rohlfing could harm efforts to curtail outbreaks. Professional athletes and private businesses that purchase lab testing can get access to quick tests. Teachers, students and others who rely on traditional retail clinics or doctors' offices, however, might wait days for results.

[soothsayer]

1. But drumpf lied in his presser that testing takes two days now

Don’t worry, I didn’t believe him