Testing is logical, as Medical Experts urge

by Original Quill Mon Aug 10, 2020 6:02 pm

Monitoring a disease is the intelligence function ('eyes and ears') of the of the war on a virus. I can't understand those politicians who don't want to test because it brings bad news. It’s like driving a car without a road map, because you might learn you are going in the wrong direction.

This is the position of President Trump, when he says "all you do when you test, is learn that it is worse than you expected". If I can make another analogy, it's like the college student who doesn't want to take an exam, willingly accepting a 'failure' grade without trying, in lieu of learning where s/he stands. Which is worse, trying and failing, or simply giving up and accepting failure? Yet Trump and Republican politicians are simply accepting failure.

The problem is compounded by the nature of this disease. It comes with two elements: 1) symptoms; and 2) transmission. When you measure only metrics that are based on symptoms (positives; hospitalizations; deaths) you fail to take into consideration that an infected person may also be the person spreading the disease.

This is particularly troublesome with asymptomatic individuals, who contract the virus but experience no symptoms. Such individuals are nonetheless instrumental in passing it on to others—and because they exhibit no symptoms they are ‘hidden’ carriers. Hidden carriers, as the term implies, sneak past the gatekeepers and surreptitiously spread the virus.