Texas testing drops as schools reopen, prepare for football

[TomCADem]

Source: Associated Press

The number of coronavirus tests being done each day in Texas has dropped by the thousands in August, mirroring nationwide trends that has seen daily testing averages in the U.S. fall nearly 9% since the end of July, according to The COVID Tracking Project. The problem is dwindling demand: Testing centers like CentroMed are no longer inundated by long lines that stretch for blocks, or closing hours early because tests run out.

The dropoff comes as the U.S. has surpassed 5 million confirmed coronavirus cases and is closing in on 170,000 deaths. It threatens to put the U.S. even further behind other countries that have better managed the pandemic, in part, through more aggressive testing.

The trend worries health experts who fear that Texas risks flying blind into the fall if it doesn’t increase testing. Texas embarked on one of the fastest reopenings in the U.S. in May but retreated weeks later in the face of massive outbreaks, ultimately leading Abbott to impose a statewide mask order after previously saying he wouldn’t.

At one point, one overwhelmed hospital on the Texas border was airlifting COVID-19 patients hundreds of miles (kilometers) north in search of open beds, and Houston this month began threatening $250 fines for not wearing face coverings in an effort to drive down infection numbers.

Read more: https://apnews.com/2b1b1b6b4e8246d31b85e1e7a76c1920

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So, Texas got the rate of hospitalizations down, but then schools are about to fully reopen.

[underpants]

1. Utah started high school football Thursday night

But they’re white so it’s probably okay.

[totodeinhere]

7. Yes, but it is true that opening these events will disproportionately

affect people of color.

[hedda_foil]

2. Why aren't they testing more? I doubt it's that people don't want to be tested.

[IronLionZion]

5. To get fewer positives and pretend like numbers are improving

[cstanleytech]

6. Bingo. nt

[NickB79]

15. Why wait 5 hr for a test you won't get results back on for a week?

It's a goddamn clusterfuck.

[SheltieLover]

3. Brilliant!

[progree]

4. 'We're Clearly Not Doing Enough': Drop in Testing Hampers Coronavirus Response, New York Times

'We're Clearly Not Doing Enough': Drop in Testing Hampers Coronavirus Response, New York Times, 8/15/20

... [in order to reign in the pandemic] By some estimates, several million people might need to be tested each day, including many people who don’t feel sick.

But the country remains far short of that benchmark and, for the first time, the number of known tests conducted each day has fallen.

Reported daily tests trended downward for much of the last two weeks, essentially stalling the nation’s testing response. Some 733,000 people have been tested each day this month on average, down from nearly 750,000 in July, according to the COVID Tracking Project. The seven-day test average dropped to 709,000 on Monday, the lowest in nearly a month, before ticking upward again at week’s end.

The troubling trend comes after months of steady increases in testing, and may in part reflect that fewer people are seeking out tests as known cases have leveled off at more than 50,000 per day, after surging even higher this summer. But the plateau in testing may also reflect people’s frustration at the prospect of long lines and delays in getting results — as well as another fundamental problem: The nation has yet to build a robust system to test vast portions of the population, not just those seeking tests.

MORE: (no paywall issues) : https://news.yahoo.com/were-clearly-not-doing-enough-155957594.html

[ananda]

8. Or: Texas testing drops as the Reep Death Cult..

.. prepares the state for many more cases and deaths
by reopening schools and football.

[Scalded Nun]

9. Ah, Texas Football

Not even the economy is more important than Texas football. Certainly not the lives of children, their families and all school employees, except for the football coaches.

There is an evil in all of this.

The Texas axis/trio of evil (that would be, in order of evil...Patrick, Abbott and Paxton) will kill every citizen before they will close the schools back down or, God forbid, cancel high school football.

[HockeyMom]

12. Masks under Helmets?

Amateur and Pro? Social Distancing 6 feet away would present problems with contact sports; football, and hockey up North.

Maybe the kids can emulate Dear Leader and take up GOLF! FORE!!!! lol

[denem]

10. 'Slow the testing down, please' !

[patphil]

11. It's all about the numbers.

Keep the numbers low. Deaths can be ascribed to other causes if the patient isn't tested for the Covid virus.
Of course the deaths are still real regardless of how it is said they died, and the number of people who contract the virus is still the same, even if the official count is artificially low.

In the long run it just makes things worse, but then there is an election coming soon...better to report low numbers to protect the incumbents. If it gives people a false sense of security and results in greater spread of the virus, they don't care.
After all, we have more than enough people in this country. What's a few hundred thousand more deaths when there is money to be made?

You can always pretend it's someone else's fault, and there are a lot of people out there who like it that way.

[ResistantAmerican17]

13. Meantime we have a positivity rate hovering around 25%. Not a typo- twenty five

Percent. Greg Abbott is a drumph humper and Texans are paying for it.

[Evolve Dammit]

14. You can't fix stupid. Good luck Texass. Sorry to those who have a brain. Not your fault.

[Initech]

16. Europe gets to have nice things because they have extremely low death rates.

Us on the other hand, are pretty much like this: