What’s more important - being ethically correct or your dad’s health?
Our management of Covid is so broken now, there are no rules. In Europe and other other places testing is cheap and available. Why are we in this state when testing is a vital part of controlling this virus.
It is laughable that CDC could put out a statement it is not necessary to test before going back to work after one is exposed or have symptoms. It’s self serving statement because we do not have enough testing.
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I read this somewhere yesterday and I think it is true. The current COVID case count, as high as it is, is probably understated right now. There are so many people testing at home. Some percentage of these will test positive and not report it to anybody.
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Article on just this subject -underreporting due to home testing - https://www.boston.com/news/coronavirus/2021/12/30/as-at-home-tests-surge-doubts-rise-about-accuracy-of-public-covid-counts/?p1=hp_featurestack
I was able to schedule tests without referrals or experiencing symptoms at CVS here in NJ (I answered “No” to both questions).
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Ethics aren’t black and white. If the goal is to reduce loss of life and limb, then whether it be Covid or a necessary surgery, I would advocate pulling all the levers to get a test. That’s different than pulling those same levers because you want to go to Cancun and you’re too cheap to pay the $200.
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I have been off for a couple of days and felt really sick overnight, like a cold. Due to elderly mother and visiting kid about to fly, I contacted my MD office at 8am. They put an order in the system for a test and said to wait for a scheduler call.
I did not wait, but found the health system scheduling number online and called myself.
The scheduler spent quite a bit of time finding me a test site with an opening- it’s crazy around here, but by 9:30 I was at a site about 45 minutes from my home.
By the time I got home I had PCR results online, negative. Then the scheduler for my MD office called with an appointment next Tuesday!
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Father was able to get a test late this morning at CVS. Despite the access to testing for others in different states/cities via their doctors or clinics or pharmacies, he did have some difficulty. But all is taken care of now. I appreciate the advice.
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@oldfort I was hoping to value both ethics and his health! And ultimately did. All is well.
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Excellent news and admire your approach. @ Hippobirdy has sharp eyes!
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Perhaps the bolded word should be capitalized. I’ve posted previously that same-day (pcr and rapid) testing is available in my SoCal community and my D’s NorCal community (and has been for weeks) and someone just posted tasing available in their NJ community.
But yet there are long lines in NYC…
Fingers crossed for you!
I would not presume that you don’t have Covid with a negative PCR (or negative home test for that matter) if you have symptoms. The false negative rate of PCR for Covid has been estimated to be as high as 30%.
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From Gauteng:
Pay attention to the last sentence of the conclusion.
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Study finds strong antibody response after breakthrough infection:
Thanks @eyemgh. Those tests are the best I can do right now. I live like a hermit but my daughter has been here and has a medical condition, so hoping the tests will ultimately mean she wasn’t exposed.
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If you’re symptomatic, the best thing you can do is to both universally mask, even in your own house. Even if it’s something besides Covid, she probably doesn’t want it. It will pass. Hang in there!
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Yes I slept with my N95 on the couch. Doing the best we can in a small apartment and cold weather. Good luck to all. I keep getting calls from friends and relatives who are dealing with cases from gatherings. We did another Zoom gathering and glad we did.
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Here is one explanation of why testing slows down when positivity rates rise: sample pooling is no longer an option when the rate is above 10-15%. Without pooling, testing capacity drops significantly.
I’m glad to read that people are actually conducting pooled tests! I hadn’t kept up on that, but it’s a great idea during times of lowish positivity.
D1 and her husband went to get a PCR test around nyc area because they had stuffy nose and sore throat. They were told it would take 5 days to get results back. They are already feeling fine. Not sure what’s the point if it takes 5 days.
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See the article I posted above about pooling samples for analysis. With positivity skyrocketing almost overnight, pretty much all pools of several samples will test positive. Then each sample has to be re-run individually; add a sudden increase in the number of samples, and the result is the delay in getting the samples processed. A Nx increase in the number of samples is more than Nx increase in the number of tests done when positivity is so high.
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