Posted on 03/18/2020 4:11:25 AM PDT by Oldeconomybuyer
Chaos, disorganization and cluelessness describe the current state of COVID-19 testing in the United States. Doctors, hospitals and state labs give patients needing tests the runaround, each pointing to the other as the place to get tested. Some people self-quarantine for days awaiting their results, only to be told the lab misplaced or bungled the test. As of March 11, the U.S. trailed most of the developed world in tests administered, with per capita numbers virtually the same as Vietnam's.
A rigid federal regulatory regime that fails to make use of the innovation, flexibility and speed of the private sector is largely to blame.
The Food and Drug Administration requires an onerous approval process to bring any test to market. Once the FDA granted "emergency use authorization" to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention to distribute and conduct the coronavirus test that it had developed, the CDC took control of distributing and administering tests while the private sector and foreign-developed tests were kept out of the process during the crucial weeks between when the virus was first identified in December and when it started rapidly spreading among the American public. The obstacles to private-sector action are only now being lifted.
It's a sad irony that a country that prides itself on a tradition of free enterprise and "rugged individualism" has downplayed the value of private initiative and adopted a top-down government-run posture toward managing emergencies.
Meanwhile, in bottom-up fashion, private "social distancing" initiatives — from the cancellation of events to self-quarantining to companies' having their employees work remotely — fueled a rapid response by the general public to an unprecedented public health crisis.
When the crisis ends, among its lessons should be a renewed respect for the power and beneficence of private institutions.
(Excerpt) Read more at nbcnews.com ...
Jeffrey A. Singer is a Senior Fellow at the Cato Institute and works in the Department of Health Policy Studies. He is principal and founder of Valley Surgical Clinics, Ltd., the largest and oldest group private surgical practice in Arizona, and has been in private practice as a general surgeon for more than 35 years.
Looks like the mockingbird media has selected testing as the theme of the day.
Missing from the article :
This is what Trump inherited
And is using every power to try to un-do and build an unprecedented response effort
Nope. It was never-Trumpers and career do-nothing bureaucrats who get promoted on the length of their powerpoints describing *process*, who caused the US pandemic.
I wonder if NBC realizes they published an article that pretty much parrots the GOP’s position on the ills of big government control of everything?
Yep. He has had to undo everything Obamaites and the Bushes did over the last 16 years, plus the Clinton debacles.
NBC is Comcast is American enemy more dangerous than Russia, Iran or ISIS
Comcast must be dismembered and destroyed
Also, here we go again with the push me pull me of the FDA. When frogs are approved that result in side effects that are harmful, NBC is running stories about how the FDA is catering to the big frog companies and allowing dangerous drugs into the market place.
When we hit a crisis like this, NBC complains about the red tape and how slow the FDA is.
Lose-lose.
“A rigid federal regulatory regime...”
Fire them!
“As of March 11th, the US trailed most of the developed world in tests administered” -
The author’s use of data that is 7 days old betrays that this is a “hit piece” designed to unfairly criticize US testing progress rather than provide readers with information. In the last week the number of tests administered has risen from about 3,000 to at least 58,000. The data below is also too low because California last reported the number of tests administered (including “negatives”) on March 15th, and several other states are not reporting “negatives” at all. Also most states are not collecting or reporting information on tests administered at private labs, e.g. Quest Diagnostics. Also, the author ignores the highly relevant fact that the outbreak BEGAN LATER in the US, so obviously we would be “behind” in testing. Good Grief!
https://covidtracking.com/data/
But even a more streamlined process didn't allow tests developed abroad and distributed by the World Health Organization to make the grade.
The WHO does not and never did have pallets of test kits to distribute worldwide. It's not their mission. It's not a capability they have. Instead, the WHO developed a test formulation.
We can debate whether the CDC and FDA should have accepted the formulation. But, it's just as likely the CDC would have fouled up production of that test as it did its own.
One company in Iowa is making test components at a rate of 5 million tests per week!
That’s OK. It looks like nobody here actually read the article anyway, Judging by their comments.
I read it and mostly agree with it.
What I am saying is that I find it funny as to why NBC publishes it.
As if the regulations are something DJT is responsible for. As if history started today.
But what was NBC and the media saying when Trump was rolling back all sorts of regulations. Google it and your browser will be filled, filled with articles decrying Trump’s actions.
We can’t cut regulations!!! We can’t end red tape!! Dirty air, dirty water!!!
Wait, scratch that, Trump’s red tape is killing us!!!
We’ve always been against regulations says the Orwellian press.
“...a general surgeon...”
Word order can still be important.
Hard to argue with that. It’s precisely the point Mr. Trump has been making.
I thought the policy the CDC followed was to test only people in high risk groups?
That’s the policy we have here in Washington state.
As of yesterday, we conducted more than 14,000 tests on people with known exposure, recent travel history, or obvious symptoms.
Those tests are coming in positive at slightly above 7%.
That’s a data point that can be quite useful in understanding how infectious the disease is, and what groups are most at risk.
Mass testing, paid for by taxpayers, might give peace of mind to many people, but, medically, it does not yield great information.
If private companies and private individuals want to contract for testing - that’s great - but, insurance and individuals need to pay for it.
How are people going to know their actual exposure when all who have tested positive are kept secret?
If they’re gonna do that, they can at least drop known exposure as a requirement for the test.
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