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How the CDC’s restrictive testing guidelines hid the coronavirus epidemic

wsj.com

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Re: How the CDC’s restrictive testing guidelines hid the coronavirus epidemic

#71

Post by tathougies »

sigmar wrote: post #65
tathougies wrote: post #46

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Evidence? CDC has more funding than ever. And it's a myth trump got rid of the pandemic team at NSC. They just renamed it the bioterrorism team after people left. https://www.politifact.com/factchecks/2020/mar/17/instagram-... https://www.politifact.com/factchecks/2020/mar/12/joy-behar/...

CDC budget for FY '18 was lower than FY '17. Source: https://www.hhs.gov/about/budget/fy2018/budget-in-brief/cdc/...

Maybe you should try contacting politifact with the correction?

I dont disagree with your source obviously but several major fact checking websites are reporting the opposite.

Re: How the CDC’s restrictive testing guidelines hid the coronavirus epidemic

#72

Post by OJFord »

jliptzin wrote: post #34
erentz wrote: post #16

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The whole blaming people for hoarding masks and then the "masks don't work" things have been incredibly frustrating. It is almost like authorities didn't want anyone to start asking why the public couldn't get masks, as they can in say Taiwan. Most (if not all) distributors and manufacturers of masks has been prioritizing health care systems and governments over retailers since January. Just as they should do. Were t…

Yea this is really frustrating. I bought a box of 10 N-95s in January when I saw what was going on in China and figured they’d be good to have, since I have older people in my family who are in poor health (leukemia, diabetes, heart disease). Now since I’m shopping and cooking for them, I am trying really hard not to get sick so I wear a mask to the stores and I’m getting looks from people like I stole them from a ho…

> Now since I’m shopping and cooking for them, I am trying really hard not to get sick so I wear a mask to the stores and I’m getting looks from people like I stole them from a hospital.

I have an N99 (actually FFP3, a pretty much equivalent European standard I gather) from some DIY work a year or so ago; I haven't been out in some time, but when I did I didn't wear it for the same reason.

It will be interesting to see what happens to production, and commercial & residential stockpiles when we do get back to something resembling normality. I suspect there'll be a marked increase in non-Asian* routine mask-wearers on public transport, for example.

(* it was a lot more common among that group anyway, so I'm not so sure in my speculation that it would increase so much.)

Re: How the CDC’s restrictive testing guidelines hid the coronavirus epidemic

#73

Post by ellius »

fsagx wrote: post #66
ellius wrote: post #48

Earlier quoted context omitted.

If there are two "mental tools" I wish we could teach every person, they are exponential growth and statistical thinking. Neither is intuitive, but they would help people understand this whole situation (and many others) a lot better.

I remember how it was taught in high school math class. It was some variation on the "rice on the chessboard" story: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wheat_and_chessboard_problem

I think that's a good example because it shows individual objects instead of curves on a graph, which for many people doesn't translate to reality.

Re: How the CDC’s restrictive testing guidelines hid the coronavirus epidemic

#74

Post by quietthrow »

This whole corona virus episode has definitely shown one thing. US, under the current govt can’t execute. Despite claims Like “world best”, “most powerful in the world” and whatever else our leaders proclaim it’s all baseless “marketing”. as they say past performance is not a indicator of future performance in the same way we did quite well from 40s/50s onwards for a certain time and build an image based on substance what we had at the time but is now just gone. It’s all a house of cards run on decrepit systems.

Re: How the CDC’s restrictive testing guidelines hid the coronavirus epidemic

#75

Post by IggleSniggle »

jliptzin wrote: post #34
erentz wrote: post #16

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The whole blaming people for hoarding masks and then the "masks don't work" things have been incredibly frustrating. It is almost like authorities didn't want anyone to start asking why the public couldn't get masks, as they can in say Taiwan. Most (if not all) distributors and manufacturers of masks has been prioritizing health care systems and governments over retailers since January. Just as they should do. Were t…

Yea this is really frustrating. I bought a box of 10 N-95s in January when I saw what was going on in China and figured they’d be good to have, since I have older people in my family who are in poor health (leukemia, diabetes, heart disease). Now since I’m shopping and cooking for them, I am trying really hard not to get sick so I wear a mask to the stores and I’m getting looks from people like I stole them from a ho…

It's quite possible that people think you are wearing a mask because they think YOU are sick, as that is the mask's primary effect (preventing you from spreading your disease to others)

Re: How the CDC’s restrictive testing guidelines hid the coronavirus epidemic

#76

Post by mlthoughts2018 »

jliptzin wrote: post #34
erentz wrote: post #16

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The whole blaming people for hoarding masks and then the "masks don't work" things have been incredibly frustrating. It is almost like authorities didn't want anyone to start asking why the public couldn't get masks, as they can in say Taiwan. Most (if not all) distributors and manufacturers of masks has been prioritizing health care systems and governments over retailers since January. Just as they should do. Were t…

Yea this is really frustrating. I bought a box of 10 N-95s in January when I saw what was going on in China and figured they’d be good to have, since I have older people in my family who are in poor health (leukemia, diabetes, heart disease). Now since I’m shopping and cooking for them, I am trying really hard not to get sick so I wear a mask to the stores and I’m getting looks from people like I stole them from a ho…

You did the right thing, don’t let anyone pressure you to feel otherwise. Retail stocks of masks for things like painting or carpentry are not at all related to depriving medical supplies. Also for N95 masks, the filter size is about 3x wider than the size of coronavirus. Meaning it provides _a lot_ of protection. It’s not a way to fully prevent anything, but a door only 3x wide lets in way way way fewer things than not even having a wall or door at all.

Re: How the CDC’s restrictive testing guidelines hid the coronavirus epidemic

#77

Post by Kaze404 »

CriticalCathed wrote: post #61
look_lookatme wrote: post #18

I think a lot of people in medicine, science, economics, policy and the media think what's happening right now is their shining moment, but if you talk to people on the ground -- this is a catastrophe and no one has any clue what's happening and people see that and they are internalizing it. The experts are f* this up and it is going to have long term implications for already eroded public trust in institutions.

Absolutely. One of the worst consequences that we may have to deal with at the end of this is that public trust will go down. In the beginning our leaders failed to act on the guidance of the scientific and medical communities -- almost two months wasted. And now, our leaders are flailing around implementing policy that is not based on reliable data or scientific evidence. They've both failed to react and then when t…

> In the beginning our leaders failed to act on the guidance of the scientific and medical communities -- almost two months wasted.

Some of them still are. Bolsonaro went on TV to downplay the virus and is actively trying to reduce state agency because state governors aren't waiting on the federal government to protect their citizens.

Re: How the CDC’s restrictive testing guidelines hid the coronavirus epidemic

#78

Post by catalogia »

ceejayoz wrote: post #45
whatshisface wrote: post #30

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The message to commercial entities is clear: don't bother responding.

If you're gonna respond by selling N95s to consumers right now, instead of to hospitals, then I'd rather you didn't bother responding.

More masks is better than fewer masks, even if they are distributed sub-optimaly.

Re: How the CDC’s restrictive testing guidelines hid the coronavirus epidemic

#79

Post by [deleted] »

tathougies wrote: post #71
sigmar wrote: post #65

Earlier quoted context omitted.

CDC budget for FY '18 was lower than FY '17. Source: https://www.hhs.gov/about/budget/fy2018/budget-in-brief/cdc/...

Maybe you should try contacting politifact with the correction? I dont disagree with your source obviously but several major fact checking websites are reporting the opposite.

[deleted]

Re: How the CDC’s restrictive testing guidelines hid the coronavirus epidemic

#80

Post by XorNot »

CriticalCathed wrote: post #42
Munky-Necan wrote: post #37

My colleagues are out of PPE and now using scarves because we are so under supplied. CDC guidelines were just changed to allow staff to be exposed to COVID patients without properly protecting themselves. I was talking with some physicians and providers when I said that I think this will be the Chernobyl like moment of our era: where the truth is hidden from people to prevent a panic paradoxically exacerbating the cu…

This is so completely blowing this crisis out of proportion. I am so confused by the tenor of the discourse on HN. I expected more from this place.

This pandemic is potentially going to kill a lot more people then Chernobyl did. And permanently injure (via lung function damage) many more.
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