South Korea's drive-through testing for coronavirus • Hacker News Board

Re: South Korea's drive-through testing for coronavirus

#71

Post by m4rtink » Sat, Mar 14, 2020, 12:28 AM UTC

ck2 wrote: post #48

kevin_thibedeau wrote: post #18

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You go in after hours when the risk of contact is minimal.

You really think they are going to bother to be open beyond 9-5 and maybe not even weekends? Also with the air-conditioner on exhaust and the people taking swaps without protective gear, or even with, moving the virus from car to car so efficiently. Look at this crazy photo: first guy is leaning into the car with facemask down. Totally going to happen at half the Walmarts. https://static01.nyt.com/images/2020/03/12/u…

How this is done here in Czech Republic is by placing a medical tent or a mobile office container on the grounds near the given hospital handling the testing.

Then people who are to be tested and are in quarantine at home (mostly after visiting affected areas in Italy and elsewhere or by being traced to someone infected) make appointments over phone, then arrive by private car at the designated time.

They will actually not set foot in the tent, instead a swab sample is taken by a medic in full hazmat suit. The tent houses the medic & sample handling equipment.

The people who have been tested then return to quarantine at home and wait for the results.

This is also compounded by a dedicated ambulance with team in full protective gear that takes samples from people at home.

Re: South Korea's drive-through testing for coronavirus

#72

Post by refurb » Sat, Mar 14, 2020, 12:35 AM UTC

ghevshoo wrote: post #5

The situation in Stockholm, Sweden right now is: “You who have symptoms similar to coronavirus will not be tested in the future. This applies regardless of whether you have been in the areas that were previously exposed to infection or had close contact with someone you know is ill in covid-19.” There are no test kits. Hospitals have run out of face masks. And it’s only just getting started here.

In order to determine who to test, you need to base it on what your actions will be with a positive or negative result.

If someone is showing mild Corona virus symptoms and can safely quarantine themselves, then there isn't a lot of value in testing. The result isn't going to change what you do.

Where it's useful is controlling transmission. When you identify a patient, find out who they came in contact with and confirm whether or not they have it.

Re: South Korea's drive-through testing for coronavirus

#73

Post by Lewton » Sat, Mar 14, 2020, 12:39 AM UTC

chvid wrote: post #58

adventured wrote: post #51

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Given the massive explosion in cases in Denmark, going from 514 to 1573 in two days, closing the borders is probably wise. For a country with just 5.9 million people, that's a recipe for collapsing your healthcare system if the cases continue to increase like that for much longer. There are not many medical systems on the planet that could handle that per capita case load increase in such a short amount of time (spec…

Depends on why the increase in cases? Just because succesfully traced and identified a group of cases, it doesn't tell you anything about the growth in the true number of infected. There are 10 people in hospitals in Denmark for COVID19. None dead. By the publicised numbers Sweden is hit about the same as Denmark; yet they choose a much more moderate approach.

It’s amazing that anyone can still be in doubt about drastic measures being necessary when we have Italy as an example of what can happen

Re: South Korea's drive-through testing for coronavirus

#74

Post by fma » Sat, Mar 14, 2020, 12:41 AM UTC

malandrew wrote: post #20

helloworld wrote: post #2

This is striking: "A nation of 51 million, South Korea has tested about 250,000 people since its outbreak began on Jan. 20, with a daily capacity of 15,000. It has conducted 3,600 tests per million people compared to five per million in the U.S."

The credit here doesn't go to South Korea's government but to a company called Seegene and it's CEO Chun Jong-yoon who directed the company to focus on COVID-19 testing on January 16th. They are the reason South Korea's CDC was able to ramp up 118 labs so quickly. It's making about 10,000 test kits a week and has been at the center of South Korea's testing strategy. The market is better at addressing problems than go…

If the market was good at addressing problems, our shelves wouldn't be empty of masks and hand sanitizer for the last SEVERAL weeks. Trump had to ask 3M to make more asks.

There's plenty of demand. Where's the supply? Market failure.

Re: South Korea's drive-through testing for coronavirus

#75

Post by refurb » Sat, Mar 14, 2020, 12:42 AM UTC

Swenrekcah wrote: post #49

tathougies wrote: post #37

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I mean, the CEO and the employees are literally part of the free market.

Sure, but he’s saying it wasn’t market forces that motivated them but their sense of civic duty. That is something that “the market” often lacks in their relentless pursuit of shareholder value.

Are you saying the CEO didn't consider, at all, the business implications of focusing on producing the tests?

Re: South Korea's drive-through testing for coronavirus

#76

Post by sanxiyn » Sat, Mar 14, 2020, 12:47 AM UTC

malandrew wrote: post #20

helloworld wrote: post #2

This is striking: "A nation of 51 million, South Korea has tested about 250,000 people since its outbreak began on Jan. 20, with a daily capacity of 15,000. It has conducted 3,600 tests per million people compared to five per million in the U.S."

The credit here doesn't go to South Korea's government but to a company called Seegene and it's CEO Chun Jong-yoon who directed the company to focus on COVID-19 testing on January 16th. They are the reason South Korea's CDC was able to ramp up 118 labs so quickly. It's making about 10,000 test kits a week and has been at the center of South Korea's testing strategy. The market is better at addressing problems than go…

South Korean here. I must point out that there are four companies in South Korea with Emergency Use Authorization for COVID-19 testing and Seegene is not the only supplier, or even the first supplier (the first is Kogene). Four companies, in order of authorization, are Kogene, Seegene, Solgent, and SD Biosensor.

Re: South Korea's drive-through testing for coronavirus

#77

Post by alkonaut » Sat, Mar 14, 2020, 12:47 AM UTC

ghevshoo wrote: post #5

The situation in Stockholm, Sweden right now is: “You who have symptoms similar to coronavirus will not be tested in the future. This applies regardless of whether you have been in the areas that were previously exposed to infection or had close contact with someone you know is ill in covid-19.” There are no test kits. Hospitals have run out of face masks. And it’s only just getting started here.

Sweden did pretty well to scale from zero to ten test labs in just a couple of weeks though.

I read thats more labs than can do the same in the US.

Re: South Korea's drive-through testing for coronavirus

#78

Post by ridewinter » Sat, Mar 14, 2020, 12:50 AM UTC

chvid wrote: post #39

ghevshoo wrote: post #5

The situation in Stockholm, Sweden right now is: “You who have symptoms similar to coronavirus will not be tested in the future. This applies regardless of whether you have been in the areas that were previously exposed to infection or had close contact with someone you know is ill in covid-19.” There are no test kits. Hospitals have run out of face masks. And it’s only just getting started here.

Here in Denmark we have just shut our borders. You can no longer enter as Swede. We as nation put on extreme measures but there is no visibility. What is the true number of infected in Denmark? There is no sampling or systematic measurement going on. We probably know less than you guys in Sweden yet we choose the most extreme actions. We just had our PM go on national TV and call on all Danes to return to Denmark as…

And I thought it was only here in the USA... Almost good to know that we're not alone in our incompetence.

At least next time around we should all be prepared like Taiwan was this time.

Re: South Korea's drive-through testing for coronavirus

#79

Post by Gatsky » Sat, Mar 14, 2020, 12:51 AM UTC

itcrowd wrote: post #6

The questions to ask for any test: - What is the false positive rate? - What is the false negative rate? - Considering the above, what is the efficacy of mass testing? (Not saying it is or isn't effective, hard numbers are necessary)

Under the circumstances, a test better than totally useless is good enough. Unless there is an alternative immediately available. Which there isn’t.

Re: South Korea's drive-through testing for coronavirus

#80

Post by tathougies » Sat, Mar 14, 2020, 12:52 AM UTC

Swenrekcah wrote: post #49

tathougies wrote: post #37

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I mean, the CEO and the employees are literally part of the free market.

Sure, but he’s saying it wasn’t market forces that motivated them but their sense of civic duty. That is something that “the market” often lacks in their relentless pursuit of shareholder value.

> That is something that “the market” often lacks in their relentless pursuit of shareholder value.

This is nuts. The market doesn't pursue shareholder value. Corporations do. However, the market, which consists of consumers and small producers as much as corporations, certainly does not always, as is seen in consumers (and frankly corporations as well) oftentimes irrational behavior.