The speed of coronavirus testing and the accuracy of the tests hold potentially catastrophic shortcomings, writes drsanjaygupta
The coronavirus pandemic is nowhere near to being over, yet states are starting to ease restrictions to try to avert economic disaster.
Public health experts say the only safe way to reopen the country for business as usual is to follow the gating criteria set up by the White House Coronavirus Task Force, and to test, test, test.There are two distinct types of coronavirus tests you've probably heard about. One is the molecular diagnostic test that can test for the virus itself, commonly called an rt-PCR test.
Harvard's Safra Center for Ethics, along with a group of bipartisan public health and economics experts, released a roadmap that calls for 20 million tests a day by mid-July to fully remobilize the economy. That is roughly 6% of America being tested, every day.Another way to think about it: That's like testing the entire country every 14 days. Bottom line: We need lots of testing. Those tests have to performed regularly. The results have to come back quickly.
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