Posted on 04/04/2020 5:10:49 PM PDT by rintintin
Most people do not realize that the greatest contributions to life expectancy and quality of life have been very simple: clean water, sanitation, prevention through vaccinations, and quarantine. But you have to know when someone has a disease in order to isolate them.
We have a considerable advantage nowadays in terms of sophisticated testing as well as the ability to test broadly. We missed that boat and it is costing us dearly – not only in morbidity and mortality, but also in economic terms. Time is adding to the human death toll, but it is also setting us up for a long, hard economic downturn that will not entail a “V-shaped” recovery. Too many businesses will cease to exist, and too many consumers and businesses will be reticent to resume their usual spending patterns.
We probably could not have avoided the COVID-19 pandemic, but we could have mitigated the magnitude of the disaster. Broad-based testing still has great value in diminishing further losses.
Currently, an infected person infects on average 2 more people. This is the replication rate (Ro) and any rate above 1.0 means the disease will continue to spread because you have more than one person becoming infected with each singular COVID-19 case.
Currently, the U.S.’s rate is one of the highest in the world with Ro that is about 2.5, translating to a doubling of cases every 3-4 days. We must get Ro to less than 1.0 in order to stamp out the disease. This isn’t just for the sake of our overall public health; it directly translates into our economic well-being. We don’t have to choose between the two: one translates into the other.
Any public health student will tell you that identification of an infectious disease is where everything starts.
(Excerpt) Read more at gazette.com ...
“ It is true we missed the golden opportunity to avert the magnitude of the disaster, but we should still be focused on testing. Ubiquitous testing will allow us to identify and isolate both symptomatic and asymptomatic cases and that is the only way to bring down Ro and begin to resume economic activity”
I am constantly amazed at how many epidemiologists are suddenly employed in the press. It’s really awesome.
I smell another bombardment coming against Trump by the Dems
Scroo the testing. It’s my body and nobody should deny me my respiratory rights. Stay out of my lungs! If I want to take hyrdoxychlorofluorophyll or whatever it’s called, I should be able to take it. I shouldn’t have to go to some back alley pharmacist.
Woulda coulda shoulda.
Prior to the outbreak I bet this author fully supported the CDC’s climate change programs.
There are so many errors in this article, it’s impossible to believe they are anything but intentional. It’s all simply FAKE NEWS.
I am constantly amazed at how many epidemiologists aren’t screaming for more test capability, increased speed of results and getting some large sample, random testing of the population to see what is really going on.
Many of the ones in charge seem to be used to looking in the rear view mirror as they do their after action reports, not at what’s currently happening to be able to recommend current actions to shape the future in the exact circumstances of the widespread variations across the whole country. One size is not going to fit all, even within a State.
It is said we are testing over 50,000 per day. Total tested yesterday was around 1.5 million - more than any nation.
I would like for them to give us a breakdown of those tested as to how many were positive because of contact and how many by other means.
I accidentally stumbled into a “report” from this paper on the President’s press conference today. It was so bitter that I was amazed they did not call for his assassination. Why does Colorado Springs (home of the AF Academy) have a newspaper that is farther left than the NYTimes or the WashPost?
Relatively speaking, I’m a fan of the experts Trump has in charge. But can you say they’ve told us anything better?
Where do they say the solution lies?
We tested over 200,000 yesterday
Look at the Covid tracking project
Well Tatiana you can go F yourself you only want more tests to get the cases up to justify a National shutdown.
Thanks to the author for letting us know the ChiCom talking points....another puppet to mass murderers with no solutions.
A brief comment on, “The lack of testing seals our fate.” It is commendable to be testing seals, or for that matter, monkeys or spiders, when so many humans are affected by this confounded virus. However, having said that, I am looking to the day when we can resume testing pinnipeds .. .
Were Tatiana’s parents fans of the ol’ CCCP? Same reason you have so guys named like Vladimir Sanchez down in South America...
Oh, BS...OLD AND IMMUNE COMPROMISED sTay in...
What’s a pinniped?
Fake news. The same reliable test, S. Korea has been using has been available for about a 3-4 weeks in America.
So what kind of games are being played at the testing level?
UC Davis Health speeds up COVID-19 testing [video]
Academic medical center in unique position to benefit patients in the Sacramento region
(SACRAMENTO) — Clinical pathologists, infectious disease physicians and scientists at UC Davis Health are collaborating on new reagents (substances used for chemical analysis), diagnostic tests and a vaccine for the COVID-19 coronavirus in hopes of preventing and ultimately treating the infection.
UC Davis Health’s Clinical Laboratory began internal testing March 19 with the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) assays (tests to determine presence of infectious agents) while, at the same time, developing high-throughput assays on the Roche Diagnostics cobas® 6800 System to meet an expected surge in cases. The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) granted “emergency-use authorization” to UC Davis’ test in mid-March.
This week, UC Davis Health Clinical Laboratory specialists developed the capacity to run as many as 200 tests a day. The commercial device has the capacity to perform more than 1,000 tests per day if the need arises.
Lydia Howell, professor and chair of the UC Davis Department of Pathology and Laboratory Medicine, and Nam Tran, associate professor of pathology and laboratory medicine and senior director of clinical pathology in charge of the COVID-19 testing at UC Davis Health, discuss the instruments, the testing and their implications for COVID-19.
Q: When did UC Davis Health acquire the Roche cobas 6800 system?
Howell: It was delivered in December. We had chiefly purchased it for oncology testing. We didn’t anticipate it was going to be used for this, yet there it was ready to go when this crisis came up.
Q: Describe the instrument and UC Davis Health’s strategy in putting it into operation.
UC Davis Health clinical lab scientists load the university’s newly installed Roche Diagnostics Cobas 6800 instrument for high-speed COVID-19 testing.
Tran: The Roche cobas 6800 is effectively a giant robot the size of an SUV. We knew we’d have to move with the flow of where the demand was then be able to scale, so we came up with a three-pronged approach.
The first prong was come up with an assay, in this case, a CDC-based assay, to test 20 patients a day and sustain that for a while. The key term there is sustainability.
That brings us to the next platform that we looked at – an instrument called the GenMark ePlex. We already use it, and they had an available laboratory-developed test.
Once reagents were available simultaneously, which is the third prong, we deployed the Roche cobas 6800. To go from something that can test 20 tests a day to something that could test up to a 1,000 or more a day with a robot, that’s our end game. This is a marathon. It’s not a sprint.
Q: How accurate are the test results?
Tran: This is bread-and-butter laboratory medicine that we do day in and day out. We go through typically rigorous validations, including now with this COVID response. We compare against multiple standards to ensure that we are either meeting or exceeding what the manufacturer has claimed. And in this case, we’re seeing, at least with a CDC assay, a 91% sensitivity up to 100% specificity.
Q: Are we the only health system in the area with this technology?
Howell: Yes. We had this assay in advance of the emergency-use authorization. It was only released to certain laboratories such as academic health laboratories capable of bringing it up and onboard before it’s been FDA approved. We’re the ones able to do that testing and validation.
And the fact that we had some of the earliest COVID-19 patients here at UC Davis has helped us do that testing on real patients and their specimens, ensuring that this is a safe test for everybody. We have epidemiologists, treating physicians and the entire spectrum of expertise saving specimens and documenting what we see. Then, we’re able to take this knowledge and go forward and study for the future. That’s what an academic health center is all about. We’re really lucky here.
Q:Are you confident we will weather this crisis?
Tran: Yes. I have full confidence that the lab, the School of Medicine, the Davis campus and UC Davis Medical Center will meet these challenges. This is more sustained and challenging than Ebola back in 2015, but we have the resources and great people. It makes this institution great. We’re able to overcome it.
COVID-19: Stay Informed On The Latest Coronavirus
https://health.ucdavis.edu/health-news/newsroom/uc-davis-health-speeds-up-covid-19-testing/2020/04
Quarantine?
When has quarantine ever contributed to anyone having a very long life then?
I am yet to meet any 100 year old person claim that quarantine made them have a long life. He didn't even mention exercising regularly, a good diet, lees stressful life etc.
Who are the fools who write these articles anyways?
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