Is anyone else listening to this CV presser, with Dr Birx speaking?
Fast recap....
Tested....we’re close to S Kor
96 % of people tested, were negative....that means, however, that they had respiratory diseases, and most RDs are contagious....
So, if you have RD, you want to protect yourself/treat yourself, but also protect others...so, all with RD assume you have a contagious illness. If it’s not allergies, it’s a contagious illness.
Also, when you get a negative test....that means you’re negative THAT day...DOESN’T mean that you couldn’t get the virus, spreading overnight, it multiplies in your nose/nasal secretions, and you could possible test positive, tomorrow.
IOW...don’t start taking risks, just because you’ve tested neg.
If you have symptoms, assume you are contagious, and treat yourself as contagious.
Longtime HIV survivors....insure extra care to not get exposed.
The entire discussion of testing is _very_ misleading imho.
In an epidemic scenario the purpose of testing at the very early stages is to trace contacts, test them, and quarantine all positives.
Once you reach community spread (too many to trace) you need to protect health care workers and critical infrastructure.
That means military quarantines, where you use the test to determine who can enter and who cannot.
If you are not going to quarantine health care workers and critical infrastructure, testing is irrelevant....
(rant off...)