Testing, Then & Now
-
Heard Scalise being interviewed this morning and he was pounding on the H1N1 response from the Obama/Biden Administration. A lot of the points can be argued back and forth...Whether is Swine Flu would have been as deadly as COVID, death rates, etc.
One thing Steve said, I can testify to...During H1N1, we had mature technology for flu screening kits. Most any 2x4 lab could do the test, CLIA-waived.
Except...Once flu season really started to peak, there were no kits. Couldn't get your hands on enough of the more popular kits to do you any good and it was no use to go to the less popular kits. The FDA and CLIA would not expedite approval or change-over procedures.
So, we literally told the docs, you're on your own. Treat the symptoms.
Compare that to the response for COVID-19 kits, which were not mature in the market. Look at the response...For laboratory services, it has been nothing short of breath-taking fast. Also, look at out testing capacity at the six month mark and current testing capacity...There are currently 1,000,000 COVID tests performed per day.
Give credit where credit is due...You may not like all of Trump's response to the novel coronavirus, but we've done a damn good job with testing, considering what had to be done to get there.
