Posted on 01/05/2022 5:26:28 PM PST by Hojczyk
As omicron’s spread outpaces an overwhelming demand for COVID-19 tests, Florida Surgeon General Joseph Ladapo has a solution that contradicts advice from myriad public health experts: test fewer people.
In a Monday news briefing, the surgeon general took aim at mass testing and said the Florida Department of Health will soon recommend people forgo testing unless it will be what he labels “high-value.”
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention currently recommends people get tested if they have symptoms, have had close contact with someone with COVID-19, or if they are not fully vaccinated. Some federal vaccination mandates require weekly testing in lieu of vaccination.
The coming guidelines will discourage tests for people at lower risk of severe outcomes, such as children and people without symptoms, but encourage tests for people more likely to need treatment for COVID-19, such as the elderly, he said.
“My department’s goal ... doesn’t restrict access to testing, but reduces the use of low-value testing and prioritizes high-value testing. ... High-value testing is testing that is likely to change outcomes,” Ladapo said during the news conference at Broward Health Medical Center in Fort Lauderdale. “We need to unwind this … planning and living one’s life around testing.”
Florida International University epidemiologist Mary Jo Trepka said Ladapo wrongly implies that the highest value gained from testing is determining whether someone needs to be treated for COVID-19, when in fact, perhaps more valuable is the ability of tests to tell someone whether they need to isolate, thus reducing community spread.
(Excerpt) Read more at arcamax.com ...
Some common sense. How rare.
Wow this is what they did during the swine flu for the entire country. Just decided at one point during the pandemic to stop pushing and reporting tests.
That makes sense.
Brave doctor. Hope he doesn’t suffer for it.
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