In coronavirus crisis, no employer in America can afford to just sit and wait
Other views on COVID-19 testing and how to reopen the U.S. economy
Edward H. Kaplan and Dr. Howard P. Forman, Paste BN: "Diagnostic testing for COVID-19 is highly constrained in the United States relative to other countries, and President Donald Trump has suggested that widespread testing might not even be a necessary step on the way toward opening up the economy. We disagree strongly. ... Consider screening in grocery stores or pharmacies. In addition to learning who is being tested and where they live, screeners should ask, 'How often do you visit this store?' That will help us correct for oversampling one group (people who go grocery shopping every day versus those who might go once every two weeks). We should also capture information on race, gender and age, so we can more quickly identify communities where hidden outbreaks are emerging before patients present with severe symptoms."
OUR VIEW: 2 coronavirus tests hold the key to reopening America
Rajaie Batniji, STAT: “Covid-19 testing organized and sponsored by employers to confirm that workers are either not infected with SARS-CoV-2 or are immune due to prior infection may be the most effective tool to gradually relax social distancing measures and get the country back to work. ... Health care workers are already accustomed to mandatory influenza vaccination, required and audited by their employers. This is justified since not being vaccinated is a workplace hazard to oneself and to others. The same justification may be used by many employers to require vaccination against Covid-19 when a vaccine becomes available. ... No employer in America can afford to just sit and wait.”
Brooke McCarthy, The (San Jose) Mercury News: "When our lives hang in the balance, fear and desperation can lead us to deceive ourselves into believing that we will be the outliers free from complications. However, if that desperation, instead of facts, drives our decisions as a nation, COVID-19 will ravage our communities more than it already has. I implore you, cling to the advice of front-line medical teams. ... Do not cede your life, or those of your loved ones, to politicians, to the economy or to desperate dreams disconnected from reality. ... Ignore any notion from politicians that we can disregard the wisdom of our front-line workers."
Andy Carvin, Politico: “On March 5, I began my own odyssey trying to determine if I, too, had contracted COVID-19. ... Learning the results of that test would prove to be a troubling ordeal in its own right. ... In a best-case scenario, each person would have a single point of contact to track his or her results, whether it were via a website, text message, or even a toll-free number. ... After seven days, I got my results. When I first took the test, the cases in the U.S. were estimated at 300. ... By the time I got my results back that number had more than tripled. ... My COVID-19 test came back negative. ... Now, what about everyone else?”
Cathy O’Neil, Bloomberg: "The tests aren’t accurate and the inaccuracies aren’t symmetric. In particular, they produce many more false negatives than false positives. ... Some research suggests that the false negative rate could exceed 30%. ... Because the tests are so inaccurate, some people get tested twice to be more sure of the results. This means that the share of the population tested compared to the number of people found to be infected paints a rosier picture than reality.”
Richard A. Friedman, The New York Times: “In February, my husband sat next to a man wearing a surgical mask on a flight home from Seattle. A few days later, he got ill with what looked like a bad cold. Shortly after, I got it. ... We never had shortness of breath or fever, so we didn’t meet the clinical criteria for (testing). I’d love to know whether what I had was the coronavirus. It would give me peace of mind to learn that even if I can’t bet on immunity, I’m probably less likely to be infected again. More important, I could donate my plasma and maybe save a life.”
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