Posted on 03/12/2020 4:26:50 PM PDT by TigerClaws
VANITY post. Please add your own and I hope someone 'in charge' reads this.
A number of my doctor friends are telling me this:
1. Patient A goes to a primary care doctor with flu-like symptoms. Fever, cough, etc. and tests negative for the flu. They had just returned from international travel.
Tells staff to request a coronavirus test. Told "patient doesn't qualify" UNLESS he or she has been to one of the specified countries (Italy, China, Iran) or has been near a specific person that has tested positive.
2. Patient B. Back from a cruise. Flulike symptoms. Not to hot zone or didn't know if they'd been near someone with it. NO TEST.
3. Doctor described navigating the government maze of people to call to request the test as similar to calling the IRS. A nightmare. It's like the folks at the DMV were put in charge of this pandemic.
To be clear: these are ENTRENCHED do-nothing government workers who likely never had to actually lift a finger.
3. Insurance company. Full battery of tests run on the patient EXCEPT insurance won't cover COVID-19 testing because not in one of those counties and with someone verifiably suffering from the virus.
CONCLUSION: Lie to your doctor or they won't test you.
Rep. Katie Porter tweeted that the battery of tests they run costs $1,331 per patient. Is cost the issue?
North Korea is testing 200,000+ people so far. We are under 10,000.
Why?
/rant
The greatest nation in the world can’t manage to do what South Korea did.
Too many bureaucrats
Drive up testing in MN.
this is easily fixed.....tell people to STAY HOME with flu like symptoms.....JUST STAY HOME...
You think it’s bad now. Just wait until the DMV is in charge of your healthcare. Expensive? You bet. But Italy has a solution for you.
So you are a doctor but you cannot make a diagnosis? Did you treat that patient as if she had the virus? You know like rest in bed, drink plenty of fluids, pop and aspirin and avoid going out on the town till she feels normal? She wasted her money coming to see you.
Both Labcorp and Quest can test.
That's a good question. IMHO, the answer is that the treatment does change. If you've been diagnosed with presumptive coronavirus, the skids are greased for you to get respiratory therapy if you need it. If they send you home with the flu (regardless of what you actually have), they are less disposed to believe you when you start having respiratory distress.
If you suspect you’re infected, you can isolate yourself and cut out infecting the middleman.
Here’s the language from the are hospital:
We are currently testing the following patients for the novel coronavirus (COVID-19):
Outpatient patients with a travel history to COVID-19 infected areas or contact with a COVID PUI must meet the following criteria for testing:
Fever
Negative for influenza
Lower respiratory infection
We only teat outpatients with travel history or known contact with COVID 19.
****
With ‘community spread’ people have no idea where they caught it. Don’t we need to TEST people and see who has it?
Catch 22. You have to prove you were near someone who has it but that person can’t get tested because they don’t know where they got it.
Why not TEST TEST TEST and then quarantine and track those with it.
Taiwan did that and, despite proximity to China, they are at under 50 infected.
Perhaps we should import test kits from South Korea?
I’ve been tracking various countries and their approach.
IMHO, South Korea is a good model for us. Extensive testing and tracking.
I don’t care if NPR ABC Fox or the Man on the Moon states the facts. Facts are facts.
WHY ARE WE NOT TESTING PEOPLE?
Have we given up? Resigned to be Northern Italy.
I believe Denver is doing drive-in testing as well.
Are states sharing info with the CDC? Is anyone tracking these folks?
Taiwan with locking folks down or China boarding them up won’t fly here. But if people know they are infected they can (we hope) act appropriately.
Half a dozen dr. friends.
I thought some might chime in here. Perhaps this is just a problem in my neck of the woods...
Here’s the issue.
They CAN test.
But insurance won’t pay for it unless...
you’ve been to China Italy Iran
OR
in contact with someone you KNOW is infected.
Both Labcorp and Quest can test.
Yeah.
We’ve been trying Labcorp to get us going with testing for days.
Very limited number of tests. For now our clinic can’t get any.
Special viral culture medium is very limited and on back order.
Can’t get straight from Labcorp, local Health Department and CDC exactly how to swab, and exactly how to send.
It’s still a cluster f###.
https://www.cdc.gov/coronavirus/2019-ncov/php/reporting-pui.html
They are supposed to report all cases so they can be tracked.
“What will change with the results of a test? You’ll still have the same symptoms. The treatment won’t change.”
—
If the test shows a person doesn’t have it, they won’t need unnecessary treatment. No test, nobody knows.
However, the bigger thing here is in finding the pockets & hotspots so efforts can be made where they are needed. The more testing, the better we know what’s what. Instead of playing whack a mole willy-nilly, hotspots can be targeted.
Sweden:
Stockholm health authorities announce that only elderly people and patients in hospital will be tested for the coronavirus from now on. Other people who experience symptoms are instead directed to national health line 1177 and are urged to stay at home, not go to work, and limit social contact.
https://www.thelocal.se/20200310/timeline-how-the-coronavirus-has-developed-in-sweden
Had a news notification on the phone here in Colo that drive-thru testing was shut down. They were overwhelmed and people who had been in line could come back tomorrow and be given priority (somehow). Legitimate probable cases or panic due to a sniffle, who knows. Probably a mix. But the powers that be are not prepared for this. However, Mayor Suthers says stay calm. That fixed it, I’m sure.
If you need to be intubated and placed on a ventilator because you’re in respiratory failure, that’s happening when you get to the ER whether you have the virus or not.
Unnecessary visits to a doctor or ER are what really threaten to gum up the works. Calling an ambulance for your flu symptoms isn’t helpful either. If you are having trouble breathing, altered mental status, signs of shock, yes, please call an ambulance and go to the ER, get treated and tested.
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