The plan that could give us our lives back
Sat Aug 22, 2020 · 167 words
coronavirus

How to Test Every American for COVID-19, Every Day (The Atlantic) is one of the most eye-opening articles I’ve read about testing in some time.

The main ideas I got from it are:

  1. US isn’t delivering PCR results faster than the virus.
  2. Silent spreaders are the virus’s secret power.
  3. White House encouraged test competition, so nothing happened.
  4. We must out-volume the virus with a massive number of tests.
  5. PCR tests don’t measure contagiousness, so they don’t help stop virus.
  6. PCR tests are positive even when you’re not contagious.
  7. Squeeze more tests from PCR testing via pooling.
  8. Antigen tests are inferior around day 1-3 of an infection, but are way better at end of infection.
  9. Paper antigen tests are COVID-19 contagiousness tests.
  10. Paper antigen tests are fast but much less sensitive than PCR tests.
  11. FDA says antigen tests must have 80% sensitivity compared to PCR tests.

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See also

  1. Overlooked variable is key to pandemic
  2. Governors, president both responsible for pandemic response
  3. Pandemic strongmen

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