Interesting premise about testing

[Crazyhole]

I have no idea about the veracity of this, but was listening to a podcast about the federal governments infectious disease testing protocol, and the claim made was that we have never been set up for doing mass testing, it was set up for surveillance testing. The example given was for something like Ebola, where there never was a risk of widespread outbreaks at the same time all across the country so the approach was limited to finding singular or multiple cases in confined areas to track the spread.

I just thought it was interesting that, if true, we hadn't really been concerned about a disease that could hit all over the place as opposed to one that would have a singular point of origin.

 

[sk8knight]

I have no idea about the veracity of this, but was listening to a podcast about the federal governments infectious disease testing protocol, and the claim made was that we have never been set up for doing mass testing, it was set up for surveillance testing. The example given was for something like Ebola, where there never was a risk of widespread outbreaks at the same time all across the country so the approach was limited to finding singular or multiple cases in confined areas to track the spread.

I just thought it was interesting that, if true, we hadn't really been concerned about a disease that could hit all over the place as opposed to one that would have a singular point of origin.

That is pretty much true. They could always ramp up capacity fairly quickly using academic and private labs when needed. The issue is that regulations (mostly in Medicare legislation of all things) were put in place that severely slowed (stopped really) the ability to certify those labs. That’s what the Washington Dr. who discovered this thing ran into when trying to get testing done. At some point those restrictions were lifted and, while Trump took a hit in the media for being dangerous back at the end of February, the capacity improved.

You have to understand that, unless there is a disease that people are dying from that is also blowing up in the media, no one gives a shit about biodefense or biosurveillance or medical stockpiles. So no one funds programs and the stockpiles don’t get refilled (such as after Swine flu). The systems and technology that could be in place die on the vine while the House plays its stupid pork barrel funding games.

All of the issues with data and capacity had solutions in Presidential budgets since Bush but never actually got funded. If you care to look at the studies and activities that were funded instead, it will boil your blood. The Presidents take all of the heat for this, but we really need to be looking at the lifelong politicians in the House and Senate when looking for causes.

 

[Crazyhole]

That is pretty much true. They could always ramp up capacity fairly quickly using academic and private labs when needed. The issue is that regulations (mostly in Medicare legislation of all things) were put in place that severely slowed (stopped really) the ability to certify those labs. That’s what the Washington Dr. who discovered this thing ran into when trying to get testing done. At some point those restrictions were lifted and, while Trump took a hit in the media for being dangerous back at the end of February, the capacity improved.

You have to understand that, unless there is a disease that people are dying from that is also blowing up in the media, no one gives a shit about biodefense or biosurveillance or medical stockpiles. So no one funds programs and the stockpiles don’t get refilled (such as after Swine flu). The systems and technology that could be in place die on the vine while the House plays its stupid pork barrel funding games.

All of the issues with data and capacity had solutions in Presidential budgets since Bush but never actually got funded. If you care to look at the studies and activities that were funded instead, it will boil your blood. The Presidents take all of the heat for this, but we really need to be looking at the lifelong politicians in the House and Senate when looking for causes.

I dont like playing the blame game because there is always plenty to go around. The whole PPE thing, to me, was resolved relatively quickly so it doesn't seem like that big of a deal. What piqued my curiosity was that with our healthcare industry being such a large part of our economy and how intertwined with the federal government it is, that there wasn't some kind of established protocol in place. It probably isn't necessary, quite honestly, but you would think that 15% of economy would lead to a crazy level of preparedness for something like this.

 

[sk8knight]

I dont like playing the blame game because there is always plenty to go around. The whole PPE thing, to me, was resolved relatively quickly so it doesn't seem like that big of a deal. What piqued my curiosity was that with our healthcare industry being such a large part of our economy and how intertwined with the federal government it is, that there wasn't some kind of established protocol in place. It probably isn't necessary, quite honestly, but you would think that 15% of economy would lead to a crazy level of preparedness for something like this.

Bush had a plan, Obama enhanced it, Trump built on it even more. But having a plan or even a strategy and having all of the connections and systems in place and the restrictions and regulations out of the way are totally different things.

 

[sk8knight]

The private sector quickly came up with ventilators. Remember the left crying that millions were going to die because a ventilator shortage. Everything has been a scare tactic.

Even on that major victory, you’ve got PBS running a misleading documentary trying to claim malfeasance because, in a time when supplies and labor were scarce and companies, like Phillips, were paying overtime for 24-hour production and paying premium to get supplies when the normal chains were crushed, the price of ventilators was higher than it was 5 years earlier.