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.