04-23-2020, 11:30 AM
(04-23-2020, 01:19 AM)oncemoreuntothejimbreech Wrote: Testing helps with disease surveillance; incidence, prevalence, mortality. It helps to determine hot spots and where to allocate needed resources if there was any sort of federal coordination.
It helps us determine if we are “flattening the curve” and we can relax the mitigation strategies so we can get back to normal without over burdening the medical system.
It helps local health care systems determine their mitigation strategies (telemedicine for instance) and how long they need to be implemented. And when the can start offering normal services again, like elective surgeries and imaging for example.
One of the interesting things I have been seeing with regards to testing, though, is how it can make things look a bit askew. For instance, if you were to look at infection rates in Virginia, my city has been in the top 5 for a while, was first the other day, and now sits second (and this is with the population count including roughly 20k college students that aren't here right now). Now, are we really a hot spot? Our hospital isn't really overwhelmed with things, it's been going relatively smoothly when I talk to doctors I know. So what is up with this? Well, we test a lot. We apparently are testing more than most localities in Virginia, which means we are showing more positives and thus showing a higher rate even though other places may have a higher rate but aren't testing.
The problem is that this has caused a little panic in the community in regards to the infection rate, here. Now, this isn't to say some people haven't been stupid, but the biggest reason for this high rate is our increased testing.
"A great democracy has got to be progressive, or it will soon cease to be either great or a democracy..." - TR
"The test of our progress is not whether we add more to the abundance of those who have much; it is whether we provide enough for those who have too little." - FDR
"The test of our progress is not whether we add more to the abundance of those who have much; it is whether we provide enough for those who have too little." - FDR