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CDC coronavirus testing decision likely to haunt nation for months to come

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Re: CDC coronavirus testing decision likely to haunt nation for months to come

#111

I just don't see what good is going to come out of worrying about this right now while the world is on fire. Everybody needs to be thinking about how to help in the coming weeks, anything else is a waste of time and mental energy. There will be plenty of time to analyze what went wrong with the initial response when things calm down. This is just raising the level of angst unnecessarily in my opinion.

In any post mortem, it's dreadfully important to capture information while everything is fresh. People writing articles like this now are capturing valuable information that will inform any thorough post-mortem performed later. The absolutely most useful post-mortems I've dealt with were ones where information wasn't gathered immediately. An outage that occurs on a Friday night is an example of one that will be low f…

[deleted]

Re: CDC coronavirus testing decision likely to haunt nation for months to come

#112
post #64

Anyone with a table top PCR machine could have been running tests. CDC/FDA were actively preventing folks from doing their own tests.

Yup they shut down the folks in washington after they started getting positive results!!

Re: CDC coronavirus testing decision likely to haunt nation for months to come

#113

This article does not mention the WHO offered tests to the US before the CDC decided it should make its own[1]. This alone should have been enough to bring impeachment charges against public officials, for criminal neglect. If the WHO had proven these in China, and you have no other alternative, it make sense to do both 1. buy tests you know are in active use and 2. make your own tests if needed. Someone at the CDC m…

What’s your point? The WHO lost all credibility. As late as January 14, 2020 the WHO tweeted that there is NO evidence of human to human transmission of covid-19 https://twitter.com/WHO/status/1217043229427761152?s=20

Both the WHO and the CDC have (deservedly) lost trust with the public.

Re: CDC coronavirus testing decision likely to haunt nation for months to come

#114

Where was the media in this? Lots of scare stories about potential pandemics back to January, in the US media, but I dont recall much if any "the CDC is fucking up / not testing" coverage. Of course that kind of thing was probably being said in the froth of the fringe and conspiracy theorists, but thats all "fake news" and unmentionable now.

As I recall, a lot of the media was saying we should be more worried about the Flu than this. That was the prevalent mantra from Jan-Feb.

Re: CDC coronavirus testing decision likely to haunt nation for months to come

#115
post #90

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Yes, its infuriating but hardly surprising. This is what happens when you don't have a responsible adult in charge during a crisis. The economy does matter, but the longer we wait, the longer we'll have to endure a crippling lockdown. So far some governors have filled in for the missing executive function of this country. Unfortunately that's localized and states simply cannot apply the same level of resources or coo…

All we can hope for from the federal government is that they keep the checkbook open. It would be nice if they would stop dispensing such terrible misinformation but I don't really think that's realistic.

They're not. Trump authorized disaster counseling in Washington but has so far not done anything else. Inslee asked him to authorize the full gamut of disaster relief services including food distribution and unemployment benefits almost a week ago. You'd think if Trump were taking this seriously he would actually authorize federal disaster relief. I fear this is going to be a repeat of Katrina but in Washington instead of Louisiana.

The Senate and House have also failed to provide any relief bills that do anything but prop up the economy. Specifically they aren't authorizing the purchase of any medical equipment or supplies to support people through this emergency, but they're perfectly happy to make sure major corporations have enough money to wait out the period while we're all dying.

Re: CDC coronavirus testing decision likely to haunt nation for months to come

#116
CDC and FDA having strict rules on who could test is vastly more important than the CDC botching its own tests, imo. The Seattle Flu Study had proof of community spread in January from their own testing, and the CDC and FDA told them to stop testing because it was against the law (per a NYT article.)

Re: CDC coronavirus testing decision likely to haunt nation for months to come

#117
post #95

Earlier quoted context omitted.

What’s your point? The WHO lost all credibility. As late as January 14, 2020 the WHO tweeted that there is NO evidence of human to human transmission of covid-19 https://twitter.com/WHO/status/1217043229427761152?s=20

I'm guessing based on the other reply that you corrected the date. But how does WHO repeating a statement from Chinese authorities (attributed in the tweet) have anything to do with the WHO's credibility?

Nothing. "The WHO has lost all credibility" is a line that was parroted in every troll comment in February and early March; I guess this one hasn't yet gotten the memo, or maybe it's a bystander that's bought into it.

Re: CDC coronavirus testing decision likely to haunt nation for months to come

#118

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> FDA regulation only allowed the CDC to create a test wondering why this regulation exists and are there any guidelines for extreme situations.

Well, you get somebody out here going "Hey, we've got great tests for this, the best." and a bunch of people who are about to drink aquarium chemicals take the test, get a negative result because the test doesn't work, and now you've got a bunch of morons running around infecting everyone else. The testing shortage is a grand fuck-up, to be sure. But it's not as bad as waiting to tell everyone to stop congregating an…

> it's not as bad as waiting to tell everyone to stop congregating and start washing their hands more

People should have already been doing this themselves from basic common sense. You shouldn't need the government to tell you to take obvious precautions.

Re: CDC coronavirus testing decision likely to haunt nation for months to come

#119
The problem is a global lack of preparation for a pandemic of this nature, despite multiple warning shots in the last couple of decades. The problem is incompetent, complacent government, and the political processes which enable it, and lately, even reward it.

Blaming the CDC seems pointless. There are any number of institutions which could have done better. The thing is you don't want to be relying on everything going right in a crisis.

Re: CDC coronavirus testing decision likely to haunt nation for months to come

#120

Where was the media in this? Lots of scare stories about potential pandemics back to January, in the US media, but I dont recall much if any "the CDC is fucking up / not testing" coverage. Of course that kind of thing was probably being said in the froth of the fringe and conspiracy theorists, but thats all "fake news" and unmentionable now.

As I recall, a lot of the media was saying we should be more worried about the Flu than this. That was the prevalent mantra from Jan-Feb.

An exponential curve looks like nothing when the numbers are really low. By mid-February even in media it wasn't a curious case in China anymore, though.
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