Of course they are.
Also, last I heard, NY, MA, CT and RI have not complained of any shortage of testing supplies. Low infection rates mitigate the need for outsized testing regimens.
I’m also surprised that there are still people who are so locked in but I realize that other parts of the country are in much worse shape than we are. Much of life around here in MA has returned to normal. My son is working 35 hours per week as a cashier at a sporting goods retailer, he is going to the gym daily, playing soccer and basketball with friends, and socializing. Day camps are open here. There hasn’t been a new case of Covid in our town in three weeks. The local hospital has no Covid patients anymore.
Even though he wants to return to school, he says in a way he is not happy about it because things there are still more locked down. He will have to go back to behaving like we were here a month ago.
On the subject of universal testing - my sons school is not doing it and the doctor on the town hall was quite critical of colleges that are doing it. He said the CDC guidance is not to do it, all it does is give you a snapshot that says you are ok at one point in time and false negatives happen.
If testing capacity was calculated assuming pool testing could be used, but positivity rates are too high to do so then there will need to be a lot of changes to their testing strategy.
Hard hit? I guess that depends on your frame of reference. Globally speaking no, nationally speaking yes. I’m in Ontario, Canada. Our confirmed case count is 39,333 for a population of approximately 14.57 million (so slightly larger than Illinois) which works out to around 2,700/1,000,000 population. Our reported deaths are 2,777 which is 190.6/1,000,000 or 0.02%. The province has been reporting a test positivity rate of less than 1.0% for several weeks and the city that I reside in (population 800,000+) has been reporting under 5 cases a day for the past week. Daily new deaths and hospitalizations are similarly in the low single digits. Our region just moved to level 3 opening yesterday. Our government has been very conservative with our mitigation strategy and we take our stay at home orders seriously. DS19 has been working full-time from his bedroom and is in contact with his friends via video online. DS21 has been very socially isolated and while he is coping well it is a concern which is why I have my fingers crossed he will be able to return to school in-person part-time in the fall. Overall however I see no need to be unnecessarily out and about during a pandemic even though much of our area has been loosening restrictions too. Other than outdoor exercise, weekly groceries, and very minimal other errands, we have been home.
The self centeredness and selfishness reflected here goes a long way to explaining why the US is struggling so much against the virus compared to the rest of the world. Not pointing to individuals here but broader society.
Self centered concept here as well. Must be from a hard hit area to care or in lockdown to care about testing issues? Don’t think so. Do you need to know someone who died of Covid to take it seriously? I don’t think so but maybe thats not true for others.
There has been talk from various government officials and private companies about increased testing capacity for months. And there has been increased capacity. Just no where near what was promised when promised.
Professional sports leaques understand the issues with testing multimillionaire athletes and related coaches/staffs over and over. They are now providing testing for their local communities but still maintaining their own regimes. Though baseball has already had its struggles in terms of virus spread. Basketball is operating in a bubble so they should have fewer issues. Though we shall see.
Is it any surprise, in a situation where there is no coordinated, competent, and trusted leadership on a nationwide scale in this matter, that each college and other organization (business, professional sports league, K-12 school, state or local government, etc.) makes its own decisions for what it sees as the benefit of itself and its associated people, where those with more money and connections outcompete other organizations for scarce resources like testing capacity, leading to the situation where some whom the general public may see as more worthy of getting those resources are left out?
My son will be tested once he gets to school. Our hospital system is not providing tests to kids heading back to college unless they have multiple symptoms for Covid.
My teen-aged niece has been experiencing shortness of breath the last few days. My sister-in-law wanted my niece to get tested, but the doctor told sil that my niece would need to have more than one symptom before she would qualify for testing.
My county has had 0 deaths and less than 20 cases since March, so the odds of my niece having covid are slim, but I am still surprised that she couldn’t get tested.
Those issues are cultural and would never (and will never) be overcome by strong national leadership. Trust in the government and science (on broad scale) has been weak in the US for a long time.
@shuttlebus —Does your niece have a pulse oximeter? If not, do you live close enough to deliver one to her?
“I’m also surprised that there are still people who are so locked in but I realize that other parts of the country are in much worse shape than we are. Much of life around here in MA has returned to normal. My son is working 35 hours per week as a cashier at a sporting goods retailer, he is going to the gym daily, playing soccer and basketball with friends, and socializing. Day camps are open here. There hasn’t been a new case of Covid in our town in three weeks. The local hospital has no Covid patients anymore.“
I’m happy to hear this. Perhaps it bodes well for states getting back to something resembling “normal” once the infections are better controlled. We never had many cases in our local area or ICU issues. Our state keeps changing the guidelines so not sure if gyms are open or closed, indoor dining pretty restricted but salons are open.
My kids are also pretty much still at home 24/7, zoom, online gaming, Working, internships and summer online classes. They have a couple of neighborhood friends and they formed a bubble early on. Couple trips to barnes and noble and walks around the neighborhood. No dining out.
Seems like telling people that one symptom isn’t enough to get a test is just asking them to say they have a headache, nausea, fatigue, sore throat or body/muscle aches. How can you establish those one way or the other?
@saillakeerie - Who are you replying to, yourself or to @ucbalumnus?
Neither have my kids except for the occasional solo walk. Where would they be going? There’s nowhere to go and everything has been closed.
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There are many places open, and many kids (and adults) have been gathering at them.
Even going to the grocery store brings you in contact with many people.
Geez, thanks so much for suggesting this. I have two extra pulse oximeters sitting in my house right now that I ordered for my college kids to take back to school with them. I live less than 10 minutes away and am heading over there now…thanks again
You haven’t? The New York Times reports, “New York City is facing such serious delays in returning coronavirus test results that public health experts are warning that the problems could hinder efforts to reopen the local economy and schools.”
https://www.nytimes.com/2020/07/23/nyregion/coronavirus-testing-nyc.html
I thought about quoting part ucb’s post. But given it was all one sentence I didn’t know where to stop. Figured people would figure it out (even with an intervening post). I guess not. But ultimately, are there many people who reply to themselves here?
What supplies are you sending your college age children to school with?
Our son will have:
480 Lysol disinfecting wipes(6 containers of 80 wipes)
1 - 60.8oz pump bottle of hand sanitizer gel (70% alc)
2 - 17oz pump bottles of hand sanitizer gel (72% alc)
2 - 2oz bottles of hand sanitizer gel(will refill with larger bottles)
5 - 200ml bottles of liquid hand sanitizer (80% alc)
6 - 2oz spray bottles for liquid hand sanitizer
300 disposable surgical masks
300 nitrile gloves
Welch Allyn blood pressure cuff
Littmann stethoscope
Nonin Onyx Vantage pulse oximeter
We’re planning for the very real possibility that we won’t see him for 9 months.
^^No, but it did seem odd that you would single out wealthy colleges for doing what every bar owner, hair salon owner, gym owner and restaurant owner should be or would be doing if they had the money: Test their customers for the virus.
OMG. Of that list, I think I was planning 1 container of wipes and 1 box of surgical masks.