Coronavirus Sars-CoV-2/Covid-19 Megathread

[Sheilbh]

There'll be incredible improvements in numbers of positive cases before the election! Much success!

Breaking via NYT: The CDC was instructed by higher-ups within the Trump admin to modify its coronavirus testing guidelines this week to exclude people who do not have symptoms of Covid-19 — even if they have been recently exposed to the virus.

[Tamas]

There'll be incredible improvements in numbers of positive cases before the election! Much success!

Breaking via NYT: The CDC was instructed by higher-ups within the Trump admin to modify its coronavirus testing guidelines this week to exclude people who do not have symptoms of Covid-19 — even if they have been recently exposed to the virus.

A shocking revelation.

[Sheilbh]

Also in Golfgate the Irish EU Commissioner has now resigned after his initial statement (issued by the Commission's press office) that he'd only made one trip from Kildare (in local lockdown) to Galway for the golf dinner. Turns out he went to, from what I can tell, at least 5 other counties none of which are in local lockdown.

He'd already lost the confidence of the Irish government so it was really tough to see him surviving. Other consequences continue to roll on. A retired Chief Justice has been asked to do a report on the conduct of the Supreme Court Judge and make recommendations (there's been scandals in the past in Ireland where the Supreme Court investigated its own members - that were, unsurprisingly, not seen as perhaps the most unbiased reports).

[alfred russel]

Because everyone knows, asymptomatic people can't spread the infection!

Contact tracing (at least what I see in Georgia) is a pipe dream that lives on the internet.

I'm going to Alaska next week and need to get a covid test because alaska wants to see one within 3 days of arrival, and no one is promising to return tests faster than 8 days. There are places taking a lot longer than that.

What is the point of contact tracing if it takes 8 days to get test results?

The US is far and away the worldwide leader in covid testing. It has run over 78 million tests. The next highest is India at 38 million and then the UK at 15 million. All that testing seems pretty pointless if it is taking 8 days to return results.

[Valmy]

Yeah I was shocked how long it took my mother to get her test results back.

But I thought we just got some new test that uses saliva and is much faster? At least I have heard about that one being used in the NBA and College Football.

[Syt]

8 days? WTF? It's 48 hours at most here. And you have to self isolate while you wait for results-

[Valmy]

8 days? WTF? It's 48 hours at most here. And you have to self isolate while you wait for results-

No idea why it takes that long but that is how long it took for my Mom.

[Sheilbh]

The US is far and away the worldwide leader in covid testing. It has run over 78 million tests. The next highest is India at 38 million and then the UK at 15 million. All that testing seems pretty pointless if it is taking 8 days to return results.

I mean it depends on your metric really because volume means nothing on its own. Given the case numbers in the US it feels like there's still not enough testing.

Here it's within 72 hours from you posting the completed test back to results (and I can verify that's true - negative).

There's issues with contact tracing but it's seems to be functioning to some extent and I still don't really see an alternative way out to living more "normalyl" at least without a significant body count.

[Sheilbh]

8 days? WTF? It's 48 hours at most here. And you have to self isolate while you wait for results-

Yeah 72 hours and self-isolation here.

[alfred russel]

You run a test, evaluate at the lab, and communicate the result. Then you get a check for your troubles. Whether the process takes 1 day, 2 days, or 8 days, you get the same amount of money.

So you bring in as many people as you can find to get tested, and there is no real urgency to finish the rest quickly or reduce your testing numbers to your supporting lab's capacity because you will get paid regardless. Hence it takes 8 days.

Bill Gates commented that the solution is incredibly easy: no insurance reimbursement for tests taking longer than 2 days, and a premium for those returning testing in 1. Not sure why something like that wouldn't work.

[PDH]

Because regulation is bad for business.

[merithyn]

8 days? WTF? It's 48 hours at most here. And you have to self isolate while you wait for results-

No idea why it takes that long but that is how long it took for my Mom.

Me, too. Eight days almost to the hour.

[viper37]

Because regulation is bad for business.

Ok, you deserve to win 

[jimmy olsen]

Just topped 6 million cases in the US, 183,653 dead

https://www.worldometers.info/coronavirus/country/us/

[Valmy]

Damn. 2% of the country.