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South Korea's drive-through testing for coronavirus

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101–110 of 135 posts

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

#101
post #72
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 conf…

'Controlling transmission' is only useful before it becomes 'community-spread'. I'm unconvinced the testing is any more useful than stats in a future wiki article. At the end of the day, folks needing hospitalization/respiratory support will exist in spite of any given test result.

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

#102
post #73
post #58

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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

Still seeing lots of "this is just the media blowing things out of proportion" posts on local news Facebook pages.

As if China can be explained that way.

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

#103

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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…

Huh, I'm sure the FDA/CDC doesn't ban biotech companies from researching testing kits? You only need FDA approval if you're going to make it available to the general public. SK is really lucky that they have that company who was focused on testing kits and even uses machine learning to quickly identify viruses. Why doesn't the US have such a company? Is it regulations? Surely not, when something like Theranos was all…

Healthcare is notoriously difficult to “disrupt” due to regulations and how the medical system is set up. I once worked for a healthcare startup and we joked that 1) your customer does not pay you and does not respond to price 2) your customer does not even choose the product and does not respond to product quality 3) you cannot even refine your product freely without getting someone’s approval on every change, for a fee. I understand everyone is happy about the downfall and disgrace of Theranos and rightly so, but I am a bit sad when the general consensus is to take all these regulations as self-evident because “you cannot play with people’s life”. There are definitely areas in healthcare that can have less stringent and rigid requirements, and today we can see that certain diagnostics is a good candidate. Expanding right-to-try [1] would be a step forward too.

[1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Right-to-try_law

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

#104

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Would love to see your sources. I’m shocked there are still people like you claiming this is all an overreaction while the smart folk are all bracing for impact. You gotta get it together man, this is bigger than anything you’ve ever seen in your life. If we’re very lucky it’ll be bad in the coming weeks and months, if we’re not it’ll be much much worse.

I would love to see a source that contradicts what I said. My source is the testimony of a virologist with 40 years of experience and other qualified people. I’m sorry to be blunt but there simply isn’t anything to brace for. The worst case scenario is that a very small number of people die before herd immunity slows the spread to nothing, after which the virus will basically disappear probably before we even have a…

It'd be super great if you'd cite your source. Like... a name? A link?

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

#105

I just finished listening to a veteran virologist give a 2 hour interview. It’s being blown way out of proportion. Nobody under the age of 9 has died, period. Under the age of 30 your mortality probability is vanishingly small. It’s only a threat to people who have a compromised immune system because of age, diabetes or something like that. This is nothing like the Spanish flu. Unlike influenza viruses, these viruses…

> Unlike influenza viruses, these viruses don’t mutate in a way that would cause their recurrence every year.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Human_coronavirus_OC43

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Human_coronavirus_229E

Both of these viruses do exactly that. They're among the many that give us colds.

"Coronaviruses have a worldwide distribution, causing 10–15% of common cold cases. Infections show a seasonal pattern with most cases occurring in the winter months."

Consider the possibility that your source is full of it. It happens to the best: https://rationalwiki.org/wiki/Nobel_disease

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

#106

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Would love to see your sources. I’m shocked there are still people like you claiming this is all an overreaction while the smart folk are all bracing for impact. You gotta get it together man, this is bigger than anything you’ve ever seen in your life. If we’re very lucky it’ll be bad in the coming weeks and months, if we’re not it’ll be much much worse.

I would love to see a source that contradicts what I said. My source is the testimony of a virologist with 40 years of experience and other qualified people. I’m sorry to be blunt but there simply isn’t anything to brace for. The worst case scenario is that a very small number of people die before herd immunity slows the spread to nothing, after which the virus will basically disappear probably before we even have a…

because the hospitals could become overloaded, that means a lot more people with other medical problems would be getting triaged than just coronavirus. not only that but this exponential curve can be blunted saving thousands of lives, including your own elderly acquaintances.

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

#107
post #60
post #42

Earlier quoted context omitted.

There are test kits in the UK, but the same policy applies. Why? Because it no longer matters, the containment effort for individual cases is now over. Now we move on to more mass actions to delay and slow the peak of the epidemic - anyone with symptoms to self isolate for a week, regardless of positive test.

I agree with this comment. I see it as pragmatic thinking not to test people at this point. It is a special situation, if you show any symptom of sickness just stay at home, it should be a no-brainer. What if you cough in public? Will you shout "IT IS JUST A COMMON COLD" and people will feel safe? Actually people who "just have a bit of a cold" should stay at home in normal circumstances too in my opinion. It might b…

OTOH this will likely have 60-80% penetration so we should all get used to people coughing, and be kind while distancing.

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

#108

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Would love to see your sources. I’m shocked there are still people like you claiming this is all an overreaction while the smart folk are all bracing for impact. You gotta get it together man, this is bigger than anything you’ve ever seen in your life. If we’re very lucky it’ll be bad in the coming weeks and months, if we’re not it’ll be much much worse.

I would love to see a source that contradicts what I said. My source is the testimony of a virologist with 40 years of experience and other qualified people. I’m sorry to be blunt but there simply isn’t anything to brace for. The worst case scenario is that a very small number of people die before herd immunity slows the spread to nothing, after which the virus will basically disappear probably before we even have a…

" I’m sorry to be blunt but there simply isn’t anything to brace for."

This is appallingly wrong.

If you're commenting here on HN and referring to legit medical sources, then you're also smart enough to see what has happened in Wuhan and Italy where hospitals are completely overwhelmed, where triaging is leaving many people without any care. Over 65? Comorbidities? Sorry, 'just die' or hopefully not, is the medical response because they are overwhelmed.

That under 30 are less likely to die is irrelevant when most of the population is >50 and the rate of spread, the severity of cases is such that health services are completely overwhelmed.

Hospitals around the world are facing 'Denial of Service' attacks and everything is crumbling.

The way to make this survivable is to control the spread of the disease so as to make care available and give enough time for rapid trials etc..

"The worst case scenario is that a very small number of people die before herd immunity slows the spread to nothing"

No! The 'worst-case scenario' is 10's of millions of infected, (possibly over 100 million in the US), 1000-to-1 infected to ventilator ratio, total and complete overwhelming of US medical services, several million dead, 10's of millions out of work and isolated for many weeks, unable to work, contribute, teach, provide medical services, run the 'toilet paper factory', etc..

Literally the worst disaster in US history - worse than WW2 or the Civil War (~2% death rate) in terms of domestic turbulence.

Now - add in how many people are going to die from 'regular things' because the healthcare system is null.

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

#109
post #108

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I would love to see a source that contradicts what I said. My source is the testimony of a virologist with 40 years of experience and other qualified people. I’m sorry to be blunt but there simply isn’t anything to brace for. The worst case scenario is that a very small number of people die before herd immunity slows the spread to nothing, after which the virus will basically disappear probably before we even have a…

" I’m sorry to be blunt but there simply isn’t anything to brace for." This is appallingly wrong. If you're commenting here on HN and referring to legit medical sources, then you're also smart enough to see what has happened in Wuhan and Italy where hospitals are completely overwhelmed, where triaging is leaving many people without any care . Over 65? Comorbidities? Sorry, 'just die' or hopefully not, is the medical…

Appalling. That’s so funny. The morbidity rate is far less than 3%. Most people who get it probably don’t even realize they have it which makes the numbers look worse than they are. Look I’m not saying nothing should be done. If nothing were done the. We might see something that vaguely resembles what you are describing. If people wouldn’t panic and if antibiotics were prescribed remotely and if people did a few basic things like wash their hands and stay at home if they have a preexisting medical condition, then basically nothing would happen. The only one we don’t have is a lack of panic. People are trying to see their doctors and get tests while they have no symptoms. I’m sorry man but you’re wrong this time.

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

#110

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I would love to see a source that contradicts what I said. My source is the testimony of a virologist with 40 years of experience and other qualified people. I’m sorry to be blunt but there simply isn’t anything to brace for. The worst case scenario is that a very small number of people die before herd immunity slows the spread to nothing, after which the virus will basically disappear probably before we even have a…

It'd be super great if you'd cite your source. Like... a name? A link?

https://youtu.be/WWNuDT4t-TM

And even though this guy destroys all of your panic driven assumptions and ideas, you probably won’t upvote me will you?

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