I watched, so that you wouldn’t have to…
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During the press conference yesterday, Drs. Fauci, Birx, et. al., gave a technical presentation intended to educate us on their testing plan (and fend off critics like Gov. Cuomo).
In general, I was frustrated by the presentation which was way more “academic” and credential-building (e.g. “what we did re: HIV”) than practical (i.e. here’s what we’re going to do and how it impacts you) … and, still didn’t answer many of my questions (e.g. going forward, exactly who will be tested? how & where will they be tested? how will the test results be used? how can I get a test? what are my odds of getting infected? why does testing require a doctors Rx note? what about the false negative problem?).
As expected he dufass politico reporters asked no meaningful drill-down questions.
That said, I drew some significant takeaways from the presentation …
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Point of emphasis: There is adequate testing capacity deployed to support the phased Open America plan. But, “the full potential of testing capacity still needs to be unlocked.” Birx
But, testing is only a supporting component of the plan and is not “the panacea” … it’s a diagnostic tool and a source of information for policy-setting … more testing will not stop the virus … it will help for priority-setting but we’ll still dependent on social-distancing and therapeutic interventions.
More specifically…
The Homa Files 