This archive report was first published on 6 August 2020.
Coronavirus Live Updates: Experts Call for Rethinking US Testing Strategy ¶
Published on August 6, 2020
Experts are calling for a large-scale rethinking of the US testing strategy, citing severe supply shortages and the need for rapid, frequent testing. While most coronavirus tests to date have relied on the ultra-accurate PCR procedure, severe supply shortages have slowed the turnaround of results, stretching to more than a week or three in some parts of the country.
According to Dr. Omai Garner, director of clinical microbiology in the U.C.L.A. Health System, 'Even if you miss somebody on Day 1, if you test them repeatedly, the argument is, you'll catch them the next time around.'
One such option includes antigen testing, which could provide a fast answer in the same way as pregnancy tests. Users could swab their mouths or noses or spit into a tube, then read the results as colored bars on a strip of paper within minutes. These tests could be done at a doctor's office, or even at home, and cost just a few dollars each.
France and Germany have each recorded a higher number of daily new coronavirus cases this week than either country has seen in months. France reported 1,695 new cases on Wednesday, and Germany on Thursday reported more than 1,000.
Germany's public health authority, the Robert Koch Institute, said new cases were spread across the country, and were not concentrated in one region as more recent spikes have been.
As numbers began rising last week in Germany, Lothar Wieler, the president of the Robert Koch Institute, had warned that Germans were becoming too lax and failing to uphold the social-distancing and mask-wearing requirements that remain in place.
Unless and until Congress acts, the unemployed will no longer receive the $600-a-week federal supplement that helped pay bills through the spring and early summer.
According to Rubeela Farooqi, chief U.S. economist at High Frequency Economics, 'With these benefits expiring, you have another hit to income and spending. So basically, everything's pointing to a slower pace of recovery right now unless we can get the virus under control or there is a vaccine or something.'
