Tuesday, August 23, 2022

Seems Bad

The "what we can't see can't hurt us" approach to epidemics wasn't, apparently, solely a Trump idea.
Early on, every monkeypox test required physicians to first get permission from a city or state epidemiologist, often an hours-long process that required multiple phone calls or emails — before the sample was sent to a public health laboratory, which could take days to release results. Following CDC guidance, local officials also imposed strict requirements that tests could be administered only to patients with visible lesions — the telltale sign of monkeypox — or patients with rashes who had been potentially exposed. The CDC’s thinking was that testing the most at-risk people, followed by contact tracing, would give the United States the best shot at controlling the outbreak.

The restrictions created a chokehold: Only about a dozen tests per day were being performed nationwide in early June, at a time when officials believed hundreds or thousands of daily tests were needed to detect infection clusters and head off an outbreak.
If you need to fill out 57 forms and do an income verification to give someone a monkeypox test (yes I made that up, but you get the point), not many tests will be given.

CDC is filled with people who think they are clever but are not. Much like the internet!