Posted on 03/01/2020 9:24:52 PM PST by Mariner
After weeks of stalled testing for the coronavirus, the United States now has enough diagnostic kits to test 75,000 people, with more on the way, Alex M. Azar II, the health and human services secretary, said on Sunday. a person in a blue shirt: A researcher at Hackensack Meridian Health in New Jersey works in a lab that is developing testing for the coronavirus.
The Trump administration has faced widespread criticism for a slow and scattered delivery of testing materials to states, where only 12 labs are capable of diagnosing the virus.
Mr. Azars announcement, on CBSs Face the Nation, came a day after the Food and Drug Administration announced that it was giving laboratories and hospitals across the country the go-ahead to conduct tests that had been severely limited to those analyzed by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
That decision should improve the pace of detecting coronavirus infections and make it possible to more rapidly spot patterns of suspected or confirmed cases. That could be most immediately valuable on the West Coast, where several new cases of unknown origin were reported in recent days.
Were not going to find what were not looking for, so lifting the restrictions on diagnostic testing will put a lot of minds at ease, said Haley Holmer, an epidemiologist who happens to have a child at an elementary school in Lake Oswego, Ore., that is closed because a school employee was found to have been infected by the coronavirus.
Mr. Azar said on Sunday that the diagnostic kits, which will distributed within two weeks, represented a radical expansion even beyond that of the testing thats available.
(Excerpt) Read more at msn.com ...
Not just negligence. A criminal Deep State strike against Trump, the country be damned.
Fingers on library books. Library book surveillance, Fahrenheit 451
Not in hospital cases though? Last I knew anyone hospitalized thought to have the flu is tested for the flu. Is that the case?
Millions of cases of common flu...we’ll have to see the # of deaths when there are millions of COVID-19 cases.
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To be fair here, the spread of the virus isn't really items China makes but people that travel around the world for what ever reason, The United States practically has an open boarder as far as that goes.
plenty of hospital cases. The flu test is not that good so if someone is hospitalized with flu like symptoms it is usually presumed to be the flu even if the test is negative. Tamiflu is not a toxic medication and can be given to anyone suspected of flu it will not be harmful if they dont have it. Other than that care is supportive anyway there is no other specific treatment so fluids, oxygen etc are used where needed. It has also long been recognized there are other viral illnesses that mimic flu such as RSV. Not all can be tested for. So the long answer to a short question is there are flu like cases that have negative flu tests all the time. Im beginning to think i corona virus may be contributing to this years fairly severe flu season.
When I was hospitalized with flu complications, this was many moons ago, doc wanted me tested because I had gotten the vaccine that year. She said if you were admitted due to suspected flu, you get tested anyway. It was a blood test, too, IIRC. Though I was a bit out of it at the time. Came back with the nasty strain going around they hadn’t vaccinated for. H-something-or-other.
FWIW. :-)
Yes we test people but there are plenty with flu like illness severe enough to be hospitalized that all flu tests are negative on. Some undoubtably still have the flu others have a different respiratory virus that we cant or dont test for. The treatment is the same
I understand that the treatment is the same, I’m assuming the testing is more for epidemiological purposes? If so, fine by me, especially if it helps develop more efficacious flu vaccines. Once was enough for me. :-)
and for reporting purposes. Glad you are feeling better
Now that I’ve got another cup of caffeine in me, let me try this again. Are there different levels of testing? A quick and dirty, though less accurate for fast diagnostic purposes; and a definitive, very accurate down to the strain for epidemiological? The latter could do both, but since it’s more time consuming and expensive, the former used more often?
there is a quick and dirty you get in the ER and urgent care. There is a more accurate PCR test we do if the first is neg and we still suspect flu. However even the PCR test can be negative with the flu as it is inot as good as the specimen you get. Both are nasal swabs. sometimes if a scope of the lungs is needed on critically ill patients we find a positive pcr test on lung washings that we did not get on nasal swabs but that is i my done on critically ill patients on ventilators
“The premature travel ban to and from China by the current administration is just an excuse to further his ongoing war against immigrants. There must be a check and Balance on these restrictions.....chuck schumer
I am referring to disruptions in the supply chain. They make most of our pharmaceuticals. I have no doubt that we’ll be bringing back some of that production.
75,000 kits? Needs to be 7,500,000 with more on the way
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