What's the point of a Covid-19 test that takes 19 days for results?

Re:What's the point of a Covid-19 test that takes 19 days fo... by imglorp on Saturday July 25, 2020 @04:49PM (#23952292)

I'll posit that political will counts double because you need everyone behind you to contact trace, both the agencies and the populace. It's not just budget.

Anecdote. An acquaintance is a disease export working for NIH near DC who also does contract tracing in the field. Sometimes their contact with the public includes death threats, refusals to cooperate, and even been spit on. They are good people trying to prevent more illness. Some of the public has been coached that the doctors are taking their jobs, closing employers, etc.

Leadership needs to get everyone behind the same spear so we can snuff this out quickly.

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Re:What's the point of a Covid-19 test that takes 19 days fo... by nradov on Saturday July 25, 2020 @06:51PM (#23953003)

We're not going to snuff this out quickly regardless of whether people cooperate with contact tracers. SARS-CoV-2 will become the fifth circulating endemic coronavirus in the worldwide human population (plus some animals). Eradicating it has become effectively impossible, and not even the development of a vaccine will change that.

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Re:What's the point of a Covid-19 test that takes 19 days fo... by SpicyLemonZest on Saturday July 25, 2020 @08:46PM (#23953524)

It's concerning to me to see this downvoted. As far as I know, almost every health official on the planet believes the virus can't be eradicated at this point, even in the countries that have kept it heavily suppressed. The long-term goal is to get it under control in the same way as tuberculosis.

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Re:What's the point of a Covid-19 test that takes 19 days fo... by anoncake on Sunday July 26, 2020 @03:47AM (#23955242)

Or, if we're lucky, the common cold. Harmless virus strains are usually more successful than ones that prompt their hosts to isolate themselves.

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