Posted on 03/30/2020 8:27:29 AM PDT by rintintin
A shortage of kits and testing supplies nationally means rationing of coronavirus tests is likely to continue in Georgia, and state officials do not know when broader testing of the public will be possible, The Atlanta Journal-Constitution has learned.
Officials hope the two-dozen or so drive-through and other remote testing sites set up by public health agencies, labs and hospitals in Georgia will eventually help expand testing more broadly. Five thousand test kits provided by the federal government were recently deployed to two federal-state drive-through testing sites in Albany and Cherokee County, and the state received 1,550 kits this week from private suppliers, Cody Hall, a spokesman for Gov. Brian Kemp, said Wednesday in an email.
But until governments and the private sector can source more kits and supplies such as swabs, testing will remain rationed in Georgia and many other states for the very sick, vulnerable people such those who live in nursing homes and emergency workers.
Limited testing — both statewide and across the country — has hampered the U.S. response to COVID-19, denying the nation’s public health agencies and elected leaders invaluable data showing how prevalent the virus is and where it’s moving, health experts said.
“We are flying a plane in really foggy weather without radar,” said Dr. Harry J. Heiman, a clinical associate professor at Georgia State University’s School of Public Health.
(Excerpt) Read more at ajc.com ...
I’m a MAGA guy, but I’m tired of Pence tap dancing and trying to obscure the fact there is still a big testing shortage. He and Trump should be unloading on the bureaucrats, not covering for them
If the CDC was actually more concerned about Pandemics than Climate Change, maybe we wouldn’t have been in this mess.
First thing Trump needs to do when this is over, is to disband the CDC. They clearly failed in their mission.
FDA approves 5-minute Coronavirus test by Abbott Labs
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/3829696/posts
50,000 tests a day promised starting Wednesday, with 18,000 machines in the field.
Widespread testing of the symptomless achieves nothing.
Just one of the companies making test kits is making 5 million per week, someone’s omitting part of the story...
Widespread testing of the symptomless achieves nothing.
1. Currently, even if you have symptoms you can’t get tested, unless you can’t breathe and are admitted to the hospital. In other words,Testing is being rationed, only for those basically in a critical state already
2. Your objection to widespread testing. Tell that to Singapore. They test everybody and isolate those who test positive ( while also tracing their contacts). Everyone else is free to go about their business, so the economy doesn’t shut down like in the “land of the free” USA. But keep telling me how widespread testing “achieves nothing”.
Just one of the companies making test kits is making 5 million per week, someone’s omitting part of the story...
Check your state health departments website. If yours is like most states, it will say you can’t catca test unless you are bad off enough to be admitted to a hospital. This is the current policy in most states with sizable populations because there’s still a shortage of componets for tests, and of protective gear for the testers. If you don’t believe me, and don’t want to look at your health departments webpage, call your doctor and ask. I speak from direct knowledge, not making anything up
They can catalog an awful lot of DNA, a little library. I say no thanks.
“When testing for a new virus like SARS-Cov-2, the first wave of diagnostics almost always relies on two important (though not particularly modern) technologies.
The first, PCR, or polymerase chain reaction, is a DNA amplification technique that is routinely used in the lab to turn tiny amounts of DNA into large enough quantities that they can be analyzed. Invented in the 1980s by Kary Mullis, the Nobel Prize-winning technique uses cycles of heating and cooling to make millions of copies of a very small amount of DNA.”
https:/ /www.wired.com/story/everything-you-need-to-know-about-coronavirus-testing/
https:/ /www.wired.com/2007/09/google-and-micr/
Google and Microsoft Want Your DNA
I call BS on this story. There is nothing holy about test kits from the federal government. There is nothing complex about testing for a virus. There are private providers of tests. There are states that also provide tests. A combination of private, state and federal tests have been more than adequate. There is no shortage. Only leftist propaganda rags like the Hotlanta Constitution Journal are selling this crap. The sky falling! Bull Schiff.
“I call BS on this story.”
This story is totally consistent with what is happening on the ground where I live. A family member with symptoms can’t get tested because not sick enough to be admitted to hospital, and that’s the current state policy because of shortage of test components and protective gear.
If you think that’s bs, call your own doctor and see whether someone with symptoms - but not in the hospital - can be tested where you live. Unless you’re in a small population rural area, the answer will be “no”
Where do you live...?
There are no such restrictions on testing in Iowa. Your health provider can have you tested at his discretion. The bottleneck is at the labs processing test results, but that’s ramping up quickly.
Doesn’t matter. My state’s policy is the same as most states, probably including yours. Look on your state health departments’ covid web page, under who can get tested. It’s a standard protocol across the country - only people admitted to hospital, or hospital employees and first responders. If you’re exhibiting symptoms but not admitted to hospital, out of luck.
All the “experts” here on freerepublic who are taking issue with me need to do a little internet research on their own state policies - it’s easy, just access the local health department’s covid web page - or call their own doctors. They’ll find that my experience - and what’s going on in Georgia - is the common policy right now in most of the populous areas of the country.
There are no such restrictions on testing in Iowa.
Like i’ve said in several responses, it’s the policy in the populous states and communities, Iowa is smaller and relatively fewer cases. I urge freepers to check their own state health department covid webpages, the criteria for who can get tested is specifically laid out.
A lot of people in Georga may die unnecessary if they have to wait for COVID-19 test. If they have a symptom, why not give them the test for regular flu, which is winding down to eliminate that possibility, then proceed with treatment if false for regular flu. Then you will have time to administer the zinc that prevents COVID-19 from replicating and destroying lung tissue that sets up the cytokine storm.
Consider that all test kits for COVID-19 from China are of suspect calibration. So using test for regular flu may be more reliable, unless they came from China as well.
If they have a symptom, why not give them the test for regular flu,”
That’s a good idea. Part of the COVID testing-shortage problem, though, is the shortage of protective gear for testers. So that would impede flu testing as well, because the testers would still need to get suited up in case the patient has COVID.
Same thing in Upstate NY. The combined effect of lack of test supplies, a slow, fat and lazy NY health-care leftist bureaucratic culture, and priority for NY City means one practically has to be on one’s deathbed to get a coronavirus test.
You have been complaining about your family member for days. Have them self quarantine. If they are not sick enough to be admitted to the hospital, then count your blessings, stay home and don't worry. It might be just a case of the normal flu, which is much more prevalent than the ChiCom virus.
“You have been complaining about your family member for days. Have them self quarantine.”
They are, because they can’t get tested. And neither can anybody else in my state who has symptoms but isn’t in the hospital (unless, apparently they’re a pro sports figure). If you find that something that shouldn’t be complained about, fine. I’m not as forgiving of bureaucratic arrogance and incompetence as you may be.
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