Coronavirus prep

Absolutely. You've hit the nail right on the head.

lemurcat2 wrote: »

paperpudding wrote: »

Ok, so disincentives to testing, like cost or difficulty getting there or not meeting 'sick enough' criteria is going to lead to under reporting and obviously to more spread.

Just to be clear, this varies a lot by state. Here anyone who wants can get tested, and it's free and there are tons of locations. We are currently testing around 40K per day.

Do you know how long results are taking? Here it's two to over seven days depending on if the tests are sent out of state.

lokihen wrote: »

lemurcat2 wrote: »

paperpudding wrote: »

Ok, so disincentives to testing, like cost or difficulty getting there or not meeting 'sick enough' criteria is going to lead to under reporting and obviously to more spread.

Just to be clear, this varies a lot by state. Here anyone who wants can get tested, and it's free and there are tons of locations. We are currently testing around 40K per day.

Do you know how long results are taking? Here it's two to over seven days depending on if the tests are sent out of state.

In New Mexico anyone who wants to get tested can get tested, symptoms or not, known exposure or not. This was a huge priority for our governor. We have a number of drive up testing sites that are operated by the DOH and by Presbyterian Hospital. Results are typically 1-3 days. Unfortunately, people are having to wait in line for about 4-6 hours to get the test and many people go at night and camp in their cars to get in line. They only have so many tests on hand, so a lot of people at the back of the line end up getting turned away later in the day. They're working to resolve this, but the only way I see that happening is if they only test those who are symptomatic or have had known contact that can be verified...IDK...we'll see.

You can also get tested at private facilities like our urgent care facilities and our CVS Pharmacy clinics...From what I understand though is that you have to have symptoms to be tested at these facilities. There are no long lines, but testing results are long...they were averaging 6-10 days about a month ago and now it's 15-30. DOH and PH have their own lab capabilities...the private entities have to send their samples out to the labs they contract with and I guess they're pretty overwhelmed as these labs are taking in samples from all over the country, or at least the southwestern region of the US.

paperpudding wrote: »

Ok, so disincentives to testing, like cost or difficulty getting there or not meeting 'sick enough' criteria is going to lead to under reporting and obviously to more spread.

There are also such long waits for results in many cases that testing is useless for identifying presymptomatic cases and preventing spread (unless people are quarantining while waiting for results, and you could achieve the same results with a mandatory lockdown -- or even a partial lockdown by lottery -- without testing, and without being any more arbitrary).

I feel like the only thing large-scale testing is good for in areas that don't have the infrastructure to process results quickly is to collect public health data that can be used to inform decisions about closing or opening businesses, schools, etc., mandating masks, etc.

Diatonic12 wrote: »

@paperpudding The test was $250.00, the same price it was months ago. We don't have any free tests.

Could you clarify where you are please - as this seems to be varying within states of US ?? - if I have understood posters replies correctly

Doesnt take a genius to figure you are going to be under reporting of true state of affairs (and therefore not reducing spread) if individuals have to pay $250 to get tested

I know all countries systems are different - but I just find that situation so hard to get my head around.

Here, anyone with insisest symptom or remotest contact history can get tested, you just get a referral from your doctor.

The doctors surgery I work at - patient would get a phone consult with Dr the same day as anyone with any undiagnosed cold/flu symptoms not allowed on the premises (doesnt have to be their regular doctor any of the practice doctors can organise it), the form gets faxed to the drive thru Covid testing clinic at the local hospital, the patient drives or gets taken there, swab gets done, patient self isolates till next day, rings Dr, results are back.

Cost to patient_ Nil.

Location_ regional South Australia.

Noreenmarie1234 wrote: »

Diatonic12 wrote: »

@paperpudding The test was $250.00, the same price it was months ago. We don't have any free tests.

Cant you get free testing through telehealth?

Probably not. I had a list of symptoms in April and I called. No fever or cough. When they concluded they didn't think it was Coronavirus they weren't interested in what was wrong with me, at all. They hung up on me.

They diagnosed it as "Adjustment Insomnia." Yes, I was having trouble sleeping, but I couldn't confirm that sleep difficulty was connected to the other symptoms, since I do experience patches of difficulty sleeping. That one was not as bad as some others have been. I said so. I don't think she was listening any more by then.

I was also pretty dehydrated, but since I was having trouble thinking (my main concern, actually) it kept slipping my mind to drink more water once I got home. I wasn't drinking much water at work because I was trying to do masks correctly. I was still under the impression that if you couldn't wash your hands before and after touching the mask (to get the water into the mouth!) that you should just keep the damn mask on at all times. AT ALL TIMES!!! I also had joint and muscle pains that did, at least, decrease once I got the hydration back up. I don't still have the list, but when I put all the symptoms into WebMD, the most likely diagnosis from them was Covid. When I told the Teledoc, she mocked me for trying to self-diagnose. But it's not like she actually helped, so whatever.

My insurance is excellent. It doesn't improve my health care.