Come for the politics, stay for the snark.

If you still can’t see these things even now, maybe politics isn’t your forte and you should stop writing about it.

He really is that stupid.

They traffic in fear. it is their only currency. if we are fearful, they are winning.

It’s always darkest before the other shoe drops.

Motto for the House: Flip 5 and lose none.

President Musk and Trump are both poorly raised, coddled 8 year old boys.

Their boy Ron is an empty plastic cup that will never know pudding.

The republican ‘Pastor’ of the House is an odious authoritarian little creep.

Incompetence, fear, or corruption? why not all three?

I’m more christian than these people and i’m an atheist.

T R E 4 5 O N

Red lights blinking on democracy’s dashboard

Today in our ongoing national embarrassment…

They are lying in pursuit of an agenda.

Dear legacy media: you are not here to influence outcomes and policies you find desirable.

Their freedom requires your slavery.

A tremendous foreign policy asset… to all of our adversaries.

It’s easy to sit in safety and prescribe what other people should be doing.

“When somebody takes the time to draw up a playbook, they’re gonna use it.”

The party of Reagan has become the party of Putin.

I really should read my own blog.

Michigan is a great lesson for Dems everywhere: when you have power…use it!

Innocent people do not delay justice.

If a good thing happens for a bad reason, it’s still a good thing.

You are here: Home / Healthcare / COVID-19 / Revealed preferences and the need for testing

Revealed preferences and the need for testing

by | 31 Comments

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Any thoughtful plan to re-open is predicated on massive, frequent, smartly targeted testing that can quickly identify hot spots. Once a hot spot is identified, public health authorities are expected to flood the zone with contact tracers and smother an outbreak before it spreads in a community.  All of this is predicated on enough testing to identify hot spots before people show up at hospitals.

We don’t have enough testing.  Congress should be tested frequently as its members are old and they will be in shared, indoor spaces with decent density.  Testing matters a lot here.

Reader Interactions

31Comments

  1. 1.

    Fair Economist

    I understand the political reason for Congress turning refusing tests but, really, they should get them. They are front-line workers because they have so much contact with so many people, at least indirectly, and they are essential because there is a lot Congress has to do. Even with their aides there’s only about 2,500 and that is not all that many people.

  11. 11.

    dmsilev

    Not to mention, Mitch McConnell is calling the Senate into session not to deal with the urgent national crisis but instead to jam through yet more right-wing hack judges.

  12. 12.

    MattF

    Not sure what ‘rapid test’ means… but Congress should be set up for taking everyone’s temperature and oxygen levels, daily. And the testing pipeline should be set up, and they should all have PPE. I.e., be at least as prepared as my local supermarket.

    ETA: And if some legislators say no, because it’s all a Chinese hoax, it’s on them.

  14. 14.

    Ryan

    No wonder Trump is gung-ho on opening.  Maybe if he had the testing we all had.

  15. 15.

    JMG

    That it is a bipartisan decision by two very skilled legislative leaders to literally risk death for the sake of optics says it all about American politics.

  16. 16.

    ziggy

    It seems to me that the testing situation should be improving a lot, as the flu and other seasonal illnesses with Covid-like symptoms are falling off quickly. Covid should stick out lick a sore thumb and we should start having more testing available, but of course I haven’t heard that to be the case at all.

  18. 18.

    dmsilev

    Also, there’s no fundamental reason why hearings and votes and so forth couldn’t be done remotely. There’s a swath of Congress that just doesn’t want to. Issues would need to be worked out, but it’s been a few months at this point and they really should be back in business.

  19. 19.

    Odie Hugh Manatee

    “Congress should be tested frequently “

    I think the Democrats ought to arrange their own testing and wear PPE while around Republicans. Let the Republicans do as they may and hope for the worst.

    Win-win!

  23. 23.

    Another Scott

    @ziggy:

    calculatedriskblog.com/2020/05/may-2-update-us-covid-19-test-results.html

    When I first posted this graph – in mid-March – the US was struggling to conduct much over 10,000 tests per day, while other countries – with smaller populations were testing far more than the US.

    Although very late to testing – and slow to ramp up – the US has made significant progress over the last 8 weeks. The US still needs more tests, but there are also some other key hurdles to a successful test-and-trace program.

    The US needs to ramp up preparedness on tracing. Some states are hiring people to do this work, but it is not organized at the national level.

    The US also needs to reduce the lag time between testing and reporting. I’ve heard that some people are still waiting days for test results, and that makes isolating (and tracing) more difficult.

    And my understanding is higher income areas are seeing more tests than lower income areas. This needs to be fixed.

    The US might be able to test 400,000 to 600,000 people per day sometime in May according to Dr. Fauci – and that would probably be sufficient for test and trace.

    There were 264,537 test results reported over the last 24 hours (the number of tests yesterday were revised up).

    COVID-19 Tests per DayClick on graph for larger image.

    This data is from the COVID Tracking Project.

    The percent positive over the last 24 hours was 11.4% (red line). The US probably needs enough tests to push the percentage positive below 5%. (probably much lower based on testing in New Zealand).

    Bill McBride updates the graph every afternoon.

    HTH.

    Cheers,
    Scott.

  24. 24.

    Fair Economist

    @zhena gogolia: Yeah, Tara’s been used cruelly. She’s been coached by a Bernie dead-ender, who has also coached her non-corroborating witness into corroborating (which is a crime if there are actual charges filed, right?)

  25. 25.

    zhena gogolia

    @Fair Economist:

    I have not seen a picture of her before today, but she does not look like a well person. The people who have been using her are beyond despicable.

  27. 27.

    low-tech cyclist

    PELOSI AND MCCONNELL decline COVID testing for members on Capitol Hill.

    That’s fine if the House is going to show up this week, vote themselves the authority to conduct proceedings and take votes remotely, then go home and do their jobs remotely.

    But they’re not.  They just absented themselves from the field for an additional two weeks.  Like nothing was happening that required any urgent attention on their part.

    The Democratic Party needs a good swift kick in the ass.

  28. 28.

    Omnes Omnibus

    @low-tech cyclist: The Democratic Party needs a good swift kick in the ass.

    Of groups that need a good swift kick in the ass over their response to the ‘Rona, I would put the Democratic Party pretty low on my list.  But you be you.

  29. 29.

    Immanentize

    @zhena gogolia: I had the same sad thought the first time I saw a “now” picture of her.  When she was young, she was a smokey eyed beauty, so easier to imaging a lecherous approach.  But given her history and job arc, I think she is probably one who really needs someone to help her navigate.  The whole narrative timeline of her tale supports that.  It reminds me of so many of my clients.  And it makes me sad, really.

  31. 31.

    Skepticat

    @Odie Hugh Manatee: I think the Democrats ought to arrange their own testing and wear PPE while around Republicans. Let the Republicans do as they may and hope for the worst.

    Bingo!

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