"To Get Our Economy Moving, Focus On Testing For Coronavirus" (Steve Forbes / Ashish K. Jha)

Forbes ^ | April 8 2020 | Steve Forbes/Dr. Ashish K. Jha

[rintintin]

If you must subject yourself to a mandatory test in order to work or to do business, then your economy ain’t free If you must subject yourself to a mandatory test in order to work or to do business, then your economy ain’t free”

So private business owners and employers shouldn’t have this freedom?

Right now, the courts have said they’re free to ask job applicants for a drug test. You’re saying they shouldn’t have that freedom?

[Jane Long]

Do you dispute that a person who tests negative, one day, can then test postive the next day/s?

You missed the point of my post.

Do people test daily?

Just trying to determine how this mass testing would work.

[jmacusa]

I tested Covid positive , asymptomatic(’’’without symptoms’’) over a month ago. I work in a hospital ER. I had to stay home for a week. The doctors told me “You have strong antibodies. We may need you people like you down the road’’.

And you're right. By the time symptoms show up it might be too late. But this disease is still so unknown, still so many variables here. But hiding in our homes is not the way to handle this. For Gods sake we have to get the economy moving again. If the Democrats want to crash the economy in order to bring down President Trump it's about the stupidest idea there could possibly be.

[Alberta's Child]

You don’t believe private businesses should have this freedom?

I do. But that's not what you've been posting all over FR on this subject. You're suggesting that it should be MANDATORY. And I'm telling you that most employers will be very reluctant to do widespread testing of their employees.

Businesses already can block you from coming in if you can spread disease, say by having no shoes on. They can already demand drug testing for job applicants.

A business owner does not have to conduct an invasive test to determine if a customer is wearing shoes. And it's worth noting that more and more businesses in recent years have been doing away with drug tests because they were desperate for workers, and the drug tests were screening out almost every job applicant.

As time goes on it's becoming more clear to me that I have an ideal business model in my company for this fiasco. I have no employees outside my own family (I generally only use contractors), and I can do business pretty freely unless the government shuts down my internet connection and takes my company vehicles away.

[Basket_of_Deplorables]

” if we are to reopen the economy as soon as possible without a resurgence of this ghastly disease. “

Aka, Goalpost moving. Who said that’s the goal?!? It sure wasn’t the justification for the lockdowns. And it shouldn’t be justification for not reopening!

Same # will get infected with or without surges. Same #’s will die. And to date, nobody has proven this lockdown saves even 1 life.

[rintintin]

Do people test daily?

In Taiwan, I believe they test frequently, so they can keep going to work.

Kind of like Trump and Pence have been doing. It will become easier when these 5 minute quick tests come online.

[LouieFisk]

If you’re in a rush - 5 to 10 minutes:
https://aytubio.com/covid-19

[ProtectOurFreedom]

This article just jumps to the conclusion "Testing Good -- must test everybody" but it utterly fails to explain WHY we should do all that testing and what we would do DIFFERENTLY with the test results in hand.

Would you get a "COVID Passport" that allows you free travel anywhere without a mask?

Most countries have gotten over the peak of new cases and are on the downward slope now (chart below). BE SURE to recognize that these are 1) per capita numbers and 2) there are VERY DIFFERENT Y-axis ranges for the four rows.

This country data all conform to Farr's Law. "In the mid-19th century, Dr. William Farr made the observation that epidemic events rise and fall in a roughly symmetrical pattern that can be approximated by a bell-shaped curve. He noticed that this time-evolution behavior could be captured by a single mathematical formula (“Farr's law”) that could be used for epidemic forecasting." (source: Relatedness of the incidence decay with exponential adjustment (IDEA) model, “Farr's law” and SIR compartmental difference equation models )

[Presbyterian Reporter]

“”” In most states, if you have mild symptoms, you are advised not to get a test but, instead, to self-quarantine at home.”””

---

Dear ‘learned’ professor at Harvard,
I am sorry that you are wallowing in Massachusetts mud and your long standing Democrat government is not meeting your needs.

However, here in Florida people are encouraged to go get a test if they are experiencing any flu symptoms.

Oh, and by the way, that is not an invitation for you or anyone else from Massachusetts to invade our state with the virus that your Democrat government has failed to protect you from.

Signed
Presbyterian Reporter

[Alberta's Child]

A person's health records can be subpoenaed by a court in any kind of a criminal case. Happens all the time.

I know. That's a damn good reason not to visit a medical professional except you absolutely need to.

Hence, my adamant opposition to any kind of mandatory testing.

[rintintin]

You’re suggesting that it should be MANDATORY.

Never said that. I said we need to get it up and running. That means heavy government spending to make it practical, available, and quick (five minute tests). I’ve said again and again that it will be businesses that voluntarily insist on the tests, because they don’t want to end up like Carnival Cruise. And average people won’t want to got out to stores, etc, until assured that they’re virus-free.

I’ve pointed out that sports league executives have explicitly said they will want to test people before letting them into stadiums.

As in Taiwan, testing is the key to opening our businesses.
Trump should be making it job 1 to get the fastest, most convenient tests developed as soon as possible, and mass produced.

[9YearLurker]

I agree on that. We most need to protect the most vulnerable, though we also know some who look vulnerable may succumb to it. It seems to me those who die are either ancient or have received poor or delayed treatment. (E.g., no HCQ until too late and then a ventilator in response)

We are going to need to have strategies for, for example, young students living with grandparents or the otherwise at risk. I would lean toward an HCQ prophylatic for such vulnerable and separate housing for the at risk for whom HCQ would be a risk, or extended remote schooling for the children, for example.

Ride that out another six months and we have hope of herd immunity.

[LouieFisk]

“Who said that’s the goal?!?”
—
https://www.whitehouse.gov/openingamerica/#phase-one

Satisfy Before Proceeding to Phased Comeback
Downward trajectory of positive tests as a percent of total tests within a 14-day period (flat or increasing volume of tests)

TESTING & CONTACT TRACING
Ability to quickly set up safe and efficient screening and testing sites for symptomatic individuals and trace contacts of COVID+ results
Ability to test Syndromic/ILI-indicated persons for COVID and trace contacts of COVID+ results
Ensure sentinel surveillance sites are screening for asymptomatic cases and contacts for COVID+ results are traced (sites operate at locations that serve older individuals, lower-income Americans, racial minorities, and Native Americans)

[mewzilla]

Antibody testing ain't gonna matter.

Get a load of this. Ain't many going back to work anytime soon if this is true...

Returning to Work After Covid 19 Testing

References NYS's state Department of Health, but also the CDC...

[LouieFisk]

“It seems to me those who die are either ancient or have received poor or delayed treatment.”
—
Common misperception.
https://www.startribune.com/minnesota-man-is-an-ironman-covid-19-nearly-killed-him/569761222

[bramps]

Now all of a sudden the opponents of testing are fans of Fauci.

Let’s hope Trump’s stops this crap that we can’t test everybody.

Let’s get back to being a country that finds ways to do things rather than find reasons not to.

All we heard about was Earth being turned over to produce ventilators. But all of a sudden we can’t make much simpler machines and can’t produce cotton swabs?

Make testing machines mobile and let people know what time you’ll be on their street. Even if it’s 3 in the morning. We end this thing clean in a month.

[dhs12345]

I think that it requires a machine.

[Hojczyk]

These experts are IYIs for the most part...

There not testing Wal Mart workers now...are they dying of in large numbers????

The economy is done its over...they have people so scared they will never go to where there are a lot of people..forget..sports..movies..resturants..concerts..

The reason Bill Maher. called out the press ....he knows it will kill Holiywood

[LouieFisk]

“I think that it requires a machine.”
—
Probably, yes, but people can drop it off or mail it to get the results. Doctors will have people send poop sample smears through the mail, so it’s not a far fetched idea.

[Presbyterian Reporter]

“””We are going to need to have strategies for...”””

---

You are correct. There are many simple strategies to prevent the spread of covid and to do early treating of those who do get infected. But then I am just ‘joe citizen’ without a host of impressive degrees.

The ‘learned’ HARVARD professor needs to stop using his test equipment for the BULL SEMEN study that he got a multi-million grant from NIH to study.

The UNIVERSITIES have already been warned by Trump that they must begin testing of covid with the huge number of testing machines they have in place in their university labs.

What would be really cool is to have Trump invoke the Defense Production Act against the universities. Leftist heads will explode.