Read the article before you call me names
It starts out with a conservative Republican governor complains about shortages of tests
It goes on to describe how key test components are made overseas
And yet the manufacturer Abbott announced today that it will be making ID NOW COVID-19 tests available next week and expects to ramp up manufacturing to deliver 50,000 tests per days.
TLDR.
The beginning of the article seems to be flashing back to weeks ago when few tests were being done. It’s out-of-date now.
Biggest problem the article seems to mention is that there are still officials with the attitude that only “severe” cases be tested. That’s not how you contain the virus with testing. You have to OVERTEST and not only test people who ask for the test, but send out a task force trying to test more and more people who were in an area with an exposed person. You OVERtest, find those sick people who don’t even know they’re sick yet, and quarantine them all. Until we are doing that, this virus will continue to spread for a long time. That’s how South Korea contained out. And there is nothing else that can possibly work. If you rely on people who think they need tests, you will not catch the newly infected who don’t show symptoms yet. And they will continue to spread the virus.
Yes, we can all stay “locked down” to try to stop the spread. But you don’t have a country anymore if you keep doing that. And just like with prohibition, people will not tolerate those restrictions for long and they will sneak around them or throw the people out of office who put in the restrictions and get them lifted.
The virus may be seasonal and come back and may never have a vaccine. The only way to contain it is through unlimited testing and contact-tracing, i.e. offering tests to wide swaths of possible and suspected cases who are not themselves seeking testing.