Trump admin pulls funding for drive-through COVID-19 testing

Loss of testing comes as states expect to see peak hospitalizations in next two weeks.

Read the whole story

 

[graylshaped]

"The spokesperson framed the withdrawal of funding as allowing states to dictate their own priorities, telling NPR, 'The transition will ensure each state has the flexibility and autonomy to manage and operate testing sites within the needs of their specific community and to prioritize resources where they are needed the most.'"

What remains unclear is why the federal funding for these drive-through tests inhibited states' flexibility and autonomy. Was it like, "You get funding for drive-through testing, but you have to give up your autonomy."?

I can't help but wonder if these tests are generating data that's somehow making Trump look bad.

The states likely to be most affected by this are the ones where governors haven't taken action. You know--many of the red ones. It isn't a priority, so minimal testing and artificially depressed case counts.

The hardest hit states will continue to ramp up testing--as their priority. Red states look good; blue states look bad.

Until the deaths start to mount.


edit: clarification.

 

[graylshaped]

Tbf a lot of countries have stopped universal testing due to lack of reagents. Here in Ireland you need to be in an at-risk group and display 2 or more major symptoms, or else need to be a frontline healthcare worker.

This was done after it became obvious that the virus was in the community - once nationwide quarantine measures were put in place the value of universal testing was decreased. Really its primary use now is determining a treatment course for patients.

From that point, I can see the logic. These drive through tests might be using up kits that would be better used on confirming hospitalized cases for accurate treatment. At this stage, there's not really any action that can be taken on positive tests for patients who aren't having issues.

Considering the federal government just made a huge purchase of medical equipment, that's probably where the money went.

There's another point that's being missed. You're right, for treatment purposes we're well past the point where tests make a difference. However, if we ever want to get out of this lockdown without causing a massive resurgence, we need a much, much, much better idea of who is, or is not, infected.

A quote from a piece of fiction, Log Horizon, that I feel fits here:
"If you can't do something, then don't. Focus on what you can do."

We don't have the kits to test everyone, so trying to is essentially wasting the resource. So instead of fund the testing as much, we should be focusing on the treatment side. Both on treat for the symptoms and experimental medicine.

How do you know who to treat? The ones in the hospitals? How do you know who is an asymptomatic carrier who asked for a test because of an exposure?

Yes, the better approach is to throw up our hands. Uh-huh.

 

[graylshaped]

"The spokesperson framed the withdrawal of funding as allowing states to dictate their own priorities, telling NPR, 'The transition will ensure each state has the flexibility and autonomy to manage and operate testing sites within the needs of their specific community and to prioritize resources where they are needed the most.'"

What remains unclear is why the federal funding for these drive-through tests inhibited states' flexibility and autonomy. Was it like, "You get funding for drive-through testing, but you have to give up your autonomy."?

I can't help but wonder if these tests are generating data that's somehow making Trump look bad.

The states where the growth curve has flattened are the ones where governors haven't taken action. You know--many of the red ones. It isn't a priority, so minimal testing and artificially depressed case counts.

The hardest hit states will continue to ramp up testing--as their priority. Red states look good; blue states look bad.

Until the deaths start to mount.

There's a reason rural states don't need to make any orders to keep people apart. There's little density. Even in full lockdown, it's not going to flatten for place like New York until either a vaccine is made or everyone is infected.

Really? Then why have mayors of the larger cities in red states signed an open letter to their governors warning that these small town folks from rural areas are still coming into the concentrated areas to shop?

You are being stunningly and dangerously short-sighted here. The rationale you espouse will extend this crisis well beyond where it could have been curtailed, as the sharp decline in news cases in Italy and Spain--who did NOT exempt their ample rural areas from their containment efforts.


edit: punctuation

 

[graylshaped]

This is a hateful example of the title of a report being used to score political points. No one pulled funding, they let the state direct it rather than mandating its use. That's not a terrible thing, but if you can frame it right you can advance your agenda.

Reading fail.

The feds will stop covering the tab for most community testing sites as of Friday (tomorrow), April 10, NPR reports.

 

[graylshaped]

Tbf a lot of countries have stopped universal testing due to lack of reagents. Here in Ireland you need to be in an at-risk group and display 2 or more major symptoms, or else need to be a frontline healthcare worker.

This was done after it became obvious that the virus was in the community - once nationwide quarantine measures were put in place the value of universal testing was decreased. Really its primary use now is determining a treatment course for patients.

From that point, I can see the logic. These drive through tests might be using up kits that would be better used on confirming hospitalized cases for accurate treatment. At this stage, there's not really any action that can be taken on positive tests for patients who aren't having issues.

Considering the federal government just made a huge purchase of medical equipment, that's probably where the money went.

There's another point that's being missed. You're right, for treatment purposes we're well past the point where tests make a difference. However, if we ever want to get out of this lockdown without causing a massive resurgence, we need a much, much, much better idea of who is, or is not, infected.

A quote from a piece of fiction, Log Horizon, that I feel fits here:
"If you can't do something, then don't. Focus on what you can do."

We don't have the kits to test everyone, so trying to is essentially wasting the resource. So instead of fund the testing as much, we should be focusing on the treatment side. Both on treat for the symptoms and experimental medicine.

How do you know who to treat? The ones in the hospitals? How do you know who is an asymptomatic carrier who asked for a test because of an exposure?

Yes, the better approach is to throw up our hands. Uh-huh.

[An unproven treatment is better than an ounce of prevention]

From which medical school did you matriculate?

 

[graylshaped]

"The spokesperson framed the withdrawal of funding as allowing states to dictate their own priorities, telling NPR, 'The transition will ensure each state has the flexibility and autonomy to manage and operate testing sites within the needs of their specific community and to prioritize resources where they are needed the most.'"

What remains unclear is why the federal funding for these drive-through tests inhibited states' flexibility and autonomy. Was it like, "You get funding for drive-through testing, but you have to give up your autonomy."?

I can't help but wonder if these tests are generating data that's somehow making Trump look bad.

"tests are generating data that's somehow making Trump look bad"

nailed it.

Hmm...

This just in:

"More than 2,000 additional Pennsylvania residents have tested positive for COVID-19, moving the statewide total of coronavirus cases past 18,000, the state Department of Health announced Thursday."

https://www.nbcnews.com/health/health-n ... BlogHeader

I wonder if the Trump administration is trying to flatten the curve of data. I mean, if more and more data comes in quickly, and there's a a fast peak of information showing that the administration ain't doing such a good job with this, then maybe if they slow down the spread of data, the information curve will flatten and soften the blow.

Well, yeah. Why else would he be announcing a task force about relaxing restrictions the week we are seeing record numbers of deaths? Why else prohibit administration health officials from being interviewed by news organizations not licking his balls?

 

[graylshaped]

Wait didn't you already pay the insurance company? How come the insurance company isn't taking reponsibility? Why are you blaming Trump for everything, when you decided not to fund him for this stuff, and now you are complaining?

It's not his problem, he's kicking it down to the states, deal with it.

What? What a poor analogy. In this case, the insurance company gave all the premiums to the people who could most easily afford them, and it's the ones who are scraping together the money who are being abandoned.

 

[graylshaped]

<I'm a lying sack of shit>

You sound like a lying sack of shit.

Another one-post wonder sock puppet.

 

[graylshaped]

Perhaps it’s because of all the fema course work I’ve done, but I don’t see where it’s the federal government’s job to do what each state should be doing. My understanding of presidential policy directives and incident management has that the locality has jurisdiction and if they become overwhelmed they ask for state assistance. If the state becomes or thinks it will be overwhelmed, it then ask the feds for help. The federal help is not meant to help the entire us the whole time, it’s to help the states temporarily and then the states need to step up and provide the required assistance to their localities. If states can’t manage the testing or feel they need to continue, isn’t that on the states and localities?

You are absolutely right. You don't see. You should do more coursework but it's probably hopeless.

Yeah, sounds like they don't know FEMA stands for "Federal Emergency Management Agency". FEMA's mission from the website is literally "Helping people before, during, and after disasters."

https://www.fema.gov/about-agency

Last time I checked what you wanted is Socialism.... don't see that in the department name.

A coordinated response to a nationwide disaster is Socialism?

Man, you are full of irrelevant dog whistles today, aren't you.

 

[graylshaped]

Yeah, sounds like they don't know FEMA stands for "Federal Emergency Management Agency". FEMA's mission from the website is literally "Helping people before, during, and after disasters."

https://www.fema.gov/about-agency

Last time I checked what you wanted is Socialism.... don't see that in the department name.

Unless you are willing to go without public education, police, fire, EMS, roads, then you too are a socialist. Are you willing to give all those up and instead pay a monthly fee to subscribe to them for their services, and let the rest suffer?

I have no idea what you are saying you are using a double negative.

FEMA is there to bail out states in an emergency, it's not designed to bail out all 50 states at the same time.

Last I checked insurance companies were responsible for individual care. Are you surprised that an insurance company doesn't want to step in and foot the bill?

edit: On top of that, not one iota of my taxes needs to go to a Red State. Let them deal with their own mess, including deaths.

So I guess the "Federal" should be removed from FEMA's title? That they should limit the number of states they assist at any one time? "Gee, Florida, sorry about that hurricane. We'd love to help, but California just had a major earthquake. Maybe we can catch you next year!"

This administration would welcome a chance to tell California "too bad; so sad" while diverting funds to a swing state.

 

[graylshaped]

This article is purely political. It is complaining about the end of government sponsored testing program which takes a week or more. There is not a real health reason to complain about this when normal commercial labs now have testing nationally.

Right from the Quest webpage:

Quest Diagnostics is receiving COVID-19 specimens and performing testing. Testing is available nationally. Turnaround time for COVID-19 testing is typically 3-4 days

This article is purely political... Translation: The article says stuff that I don't want to know because it makes my political tribe look bad.

[I'm ignoring the fact that the poor are most susceptible to this, but they are poor, so fuck 'em]

Your attitude is duly noted.

 

[graylshaped]

Based on how cumbersome and convoluted the voting system is in the US, the fact that voting takes place on a workday, you have voter suppression, gerrymandering and so on I, with my definition of voting and democracy, barely considers the US to be a democracy.

[I wasn't paying attention when Covfece authored the largest transfer of wealth to wealthy shareholders in the history of the country]

You sure you're up for this debate? You're kind of flailing away right now.

 

[graylshaped]

Based on how cumbersome and convoluted the voting system is in the US, the fact that voting takes place on a workday, you have voter suppression, gerrymandering and so on I, with my definition of voting and democracy, barely considers the US to be a democracy.

[I wasn't paying attention when Covfece authored the largest transfer of wealth to wealthy shareholders in the history of the country]

You sure you're up for this debate? You're kind of flailing away right now.

That jackwagon can't figure out if he is a bernie-bro troll or an alt-right troll. I suspect more than one person is using the account.

The charitable interpretation is that he isn't very bright, which is hardly his fault given the systematic effort by Republicans to dismantle public education for more than six decades.

What's the saying? "Better to let people think you are simply by keeping your mouth closed, than to open it and remove all doubt."

The other interpretation is that he is a sewer-dwelling troll.

 

[graylshaped]

This article is purely political. It is complaining about the end of government sponsored testing program which takes a week or more. There is not a real health reason to complain about this when normal commercial labs now have testing nationally.

Right from the Quest webpage:

Quest Diagnostics is receiving COVID-19 specimens and performing testing. Testing is available nationally. Turnaround time for COVID-19 testing is typically 3-4 days

Hey, Reso: What do Trump's balls taste like?

Matzah?

That could be. I doubt they've been leavened for a while.

 

[graylshaped]

Based on how cumbersome and convoluted the voting system is in the US, the fact that voting takes place on a workday, you have voter suppression, gerrymandering and so on I, with my definition of voting and democracy, barely considers the US to be a democracy.

[I wasn't paying attention when Covfece authored the largest transfer of wealth to wealthy shareholders in the history of the country]

You sure you're up for this debate? You're kind of flailing away right now.

That jackwagon can't figure out if he is a bernie-bro troll or an alt-right troll. I suspect more than one person is using the account.

That, or someone trolling from St, Petersburg.

Apparently Russia is offshoring some of its troll farms...

 

[graylshaped]

This is great news.
Allowing pharmacies nationwide to perform testing will far outweight the benefits and accessibility of 41 federally funded testing sites!

To Walgreens bottom line, is what you left out.

 

[graylshaped]

As an outsider, I just don't understand what the USA as a country is doing.

Fall of Rome 2.0

panem et circenses while people die, starve, etc. It has been happening for years, COVID just lit the fire for our Nero.

completely off topic: How does panem become "bread" in english, but retains that "pan" root in every other latin derived language? Even in Japanese of all things, which loves to borrow from english!

English is a germanic, not a romance, language. It's predecessor was brought to Great Britain by Saxons migrating from what is now northern Germany. The Norman invasion had a significant romanisation effect, but was largely limited to the aristocracy. Hence the odd use of different words for an animal (from the germanic tongue of those that farmed them) and the meat they produce (from the romanised tongue of those that ate them). "Cow" ( cf. german "Kuh") versus "beef" (cf. french " boeuf" (sp?)), for example.

Even shorter explanation: English has yet to meet a word it could not adopt as its own.

The deuce, you say!

 

[graylshaped]

I guess they must be lying then. Odd I can't seem to find news report of Canadians dying while waiting in emergency room, but found plenty in the US.

Might be because Canadians don't wait until the last moment to see a doctor.

I think this proves the opposite of your point. If it were true that Canadians don't wait until the last minute to see the doctor, could that be because they can afford to see a doctor? Health care can also be accessed by preventative care and adequate education.

You can't access health care by preventative care. That doesn't even make sense. Do you mean in Canada you also get preventative care on top of actual health care?

Huh. I'm in California. My plan provides preventative care for free. The provider understands that prevention is more efficient than having to cure something they could have caught earlier.

You know what doesn't make sense? Quite literally any fucking thing you have posted in this thread.

 

[graylshaped]

Oh look, a person on the internet completely unable to have a conversation like an adult, I'm shocked.

What, never looked in a mirror before?

Yes I went really overboard with "Lol so nothing actually changed other than allowing more control of it at the local level that some places asked for and you guys still have to put spin on it and complain." before the personal insults towards me started flying.

Correct. Next time, perhaps don't start off with the dumbassery and insults, and you might get a friendlier reception.

But he started so well, I never saw his second post.

 

[graylshaped]

As a Swede I am personally appalled in how your voting system works. Here in Sweden everyone who is 18 years of age on election day, Swedish citizen and have a residence registered in Sweden get their polling card mailed to them. You don't have to register or anything. It just shows up in the mail a few weeks before the election. You then have several options on how to vote: You can mail it in, you can go to special locations where you can do advance voting or you vote on election day which always take place on a Sunday.

Based on how cumbersome and convoluted the voting system is in the US, the fact that voting takes place on a workday, you have voter suppression, gerrymandering and so on I, with my definition of voting and democracy, barely considers the US to be a democracy.

That's because the U.S. isnt' a democracy. We never have been (it's another one of "those" things). We are a Constitutional Republic. The founding fathers were not so hot on democracies. They were seen as "Mob rule" types of government (see present president). So we went from a confederacy to a Republic after the Revolutionary war.

"The US is a republic, not a democracy" is the kind of distinction pedants draw because they think it makes them sound smart.

The two things aren't mutually exclusive (FYI, Sweden is a constitutional monarchy), but that's not even the point -- what the fuck does that have to do with naris48's criticisms of our electoral process? "We're a constitutional republic, so we have elections on Tuesdays"? How the fuck does B follow from A?

The argument is purely: we don't like it when the wrong people vote.

But they know it doesn't sound good so they blather a bit more.

That's not even a bad argument, though; "our system is intentionally designed to keep 'the wrong people' from voting and always has been" is absolutely a fair assessment (whether you think that's a good thing or a bad one; Trump gave the game away the other day when he said that universal mail-in voting would mean no Republican will ever win an election again). But all this dithering about what "democracy" means distracts from that point.

It's fair to say gerrymandering and other suppression efforts hamper the exercise of franchise in our current system. As a Californian, though, I see first had the stupid initiatives that demand money be wasted to defeat them via direct popular election, or the impact of those that pass even though so many are subsequently ruled blatantly unconstitutional.

Hell, in our fair state, in 2008 we took right away from people and gave them to chickens.

So, the distinction between a pure democracy and a representational one is also a legitimate point.

 

[graylshaped]

The argument is purely: we don't like it when the wrong people vote.

But they know it doesn't sound good so they blather a bit more.

That's not even a bad argument, though; "our system is intentionally designed to keep 'the wrong people' from voting and always has been" is absolutely a fair assessment (whether you think that's a good thing or a bad one; Trump gave the game away the other day when he said that universal mail-in voting would mean no Republican will ever win an election again). But all this dithering about what "democracy" means distracts from that point.

It's fair to say gerrymandering and other suppression efforts hamper the exercise of franchise in our current system. As a Californian, though, I see first had the stupid initiatives that demand money be wasted to defeat them via direct popular election, or the impact of those that pass even though so many are subsequently ruled blatantly unconstitutional.

Hell, in our fair state, in 2008 we took right away from people and gave them to chickens.

So, the distinction between a pure democracy and a representational one is also a legitimate point.

There are certainly benefits and drawbacks to both pure democracy and representational democracy (I find that our ballot initiative system in Arizona is a good check on a legislature that, while generally representative of the will of the majority, differs from that majority on some key issues), but representational democracy is still a kind of democracy. "We're a republic, not a democracy" is a sophomoric way of trying to approach that discussion. We're both. We're a democratic republic.

With your qualification that it is a "kind of" democracy, we are on the same page. Yes, we are a democratic republic.

Any pedantry I express around the nuanced difference is that too often people want to lean on "majority rules" and "the will of the people" when our system was expressly designed to try and limit the damage of mob rule, which is what the Founding Fathers considered a pure democracy would inevitably become.

As McNoChin shows us, absent checks and balances, a majority in the wrong hands under the wrong set of rules, can do an extraordinary amount of damage.

 

[graylshaped]

I did not vote for Trump. <snip>

Of course you didn't vote for Trump...bots don't get a vote.

I live in Calif. We have 'vote by mail' and they send out ballots in the mail.
I can vote as many times as I want under this system.

No, you can't. And you obviously don't actually live there, since you just lied about how the system works.

You're transparently shoveling Trumpian talking points here. I know it's hard, but try thinking for yourself.

Stop if you smell smoke.

I live in Calif.
They send ballots in the mail. I got one recently.
Someone fills out the ballot and sends it in if they so desire.

How do you think it works?

Better than you imply.

Who sent in yours?

 

[graylshaped]

ChrisInSATX[/url]":zm0d89m3]

*Loud jingling noises*

But for what it's worth, you're doing a great job. I'm sure lots and lots of people watching this debate can see how superior your ideology is.

Why, yes. Yes we can see how great a job he's doing.
Maybe you should think about upping your game abit? Might eventually get him to break a sweat or something. I recommend, as a first step in upping your game, that you first - and this is the important part, so listen carefully - try showing up without all those bells on. Seriously, all that tinkling just makes people giggle.

I stopped listening to his bells when he lived in Iowa, and shut them down immediately when--apparently--he moved.

Though I suspect he is still working from the same cubicle in a time zone far different from CST.

 

[graylshaped]

I know that the -15/-20 scale has worked pretty well, but I wonder if introducing a sliding scale based on the overall number of downvotes an account receives might be helpful as well. If your upvote/downvote ratio gets too small, your posts are easier to send to oblivion.

Really that kind of signal should trigger more attention from the moderators rather than a change to the algorithm. If someone's sufficiently unwelcome to the Ars audience that their posts are going to be hidden anyway, Ars should be taking action about the poster rather than just hiding the posts quicker.

Second the motion.

 

[graylshaped]

I know that the -15/-20 scale has worked pretty well, but I wonder if introducing a sliding scale based on the overall number of downvotes an account receives might be helpful as well. If your upvote/downvote ratio gets too small, your posts are easier to send to oblivion.

Really that kind of signal should trigger more attention from the moderators rather than a change to the algorithm. If someone's sufficiently unwelcome to the Ars audience that their posts are going to be hidden anyway, Ars should be taking action about the poster rather than just hiding the posts quicker.

I'd agree, but there's only so much Aurich to go around. We're getting trolled 20+ pages into this, I doubt that the mods are really paying attention at this point so it would be nice if the community had a way to weed out the trash in the longer running threads.

One of many reasons why we need the Aurich cloning project to succeed.

Is the world ready for the Citadel of Aurichs?

It would be better than the one we will have if Covfece gets a second term.


edit: missed a vowel

 

[graylshaped]

Problem solved. Pay me.

free market says "no"

How can anyone be so deluded as ChrisInSATX? It's like he actually works at being stupid.

He's engaging in what's now widely recognized as classic foreign troll behavior. He's seeking to inflame, not inform. The goal is to exploit existing divisions and widen them, making it more and more difficult for the US to come together and unite toward shared goals.

You can't educate such posters; they're not listening. Responses almost invariably work to their advantage, and they simply ignore calm, well reasoned ones.

Put it on ignore and move on.

No that is not classic foreign troll behaviour. That is classic conservative moron behaviour.

I do not disagree with you, but to survive this apparently undeclared New Cold War, we do need to figure out how to figure out which is which.

 

[graylshaped]

At this point I can't tell their malice apart from their incompetence, all of it heavily colored with greed. .

In all things, at all times, follow the money.

To wit: what the EPA is--technically isn't doing. I'm not even going to post a link. The journey of discovery will heighten your wtf factor all the more.

 

[graylshaped]

Of course you didn't vote for Trump...bots don't get a vote.

I live in Calif. We have 'vote by mail' and they send out ballots in the mail.
I can vote as many times as I want under this system.

No, you can't. And you obviously don't actually live there, since you just lied about how the system works.

You're transparently shoveling Trumpian talking points here. I know it's hard, but try thinking for yourself.

Stop if you smell smoke.

I live in Calif.
They send ballots in the mail. I got one recently.
Someone fills out the ballot and sends it in if they so desire.

How do you think it works?

Better than you imply.

Who sent in yours?

I threw it away after ripping it into small pieces.
They send out ballots in the mail. Anyone can fill out any ballot.
How do you think they check who filled out which ballot and that nobody filled out more than one?

How do they do that?

You are right.

It is best you not vote, given your critical thinking skills.

 

[graylshaped]

< voting should be hard >

Must reeely burn your butt that there is a simple effective inexpensive method to counter voter suppression.

I am not the person you are talking to.

You know your post history is available to anyone willing to invest two clicks, right?

 

[graylshaped]

Obvious plant is obvious.

And now it is fertilizer. Took all of 24 days to get there, too.

Must be warm in your parts; my compost takes months.

I read that as "must be warm in your pants...."

I need coffee.

 

[graylshaped]

Obvious plant is obvious.

And now it is fertilizer. Took all of 24 days to get there, too.

Must be warm in your parts; my compost takes months.

I read that as "must be warm in your pants...."

I need coffee.

Remember to never Ars before coffee. It will only end in tragedy, sorrow, misery, and heavy editing. Or strange breakfast concoctions.

I have three containers of leftover stuff in the frig that will form "hash" for my breakfast tomorrow. It my or may not be strange.

 

[graylshaped]

Remember to never Ars before coffee. It will only end in tragedy, sorrow, misery, and heavy editing. Or strange breakfast concoctions.

I have three containers of leftover stuff in the frig that will form "hash" for my breakfast tomorrow. It my or may not be strange.

No stranger than leftover, cold pizza for breakfast. Or ice cream. Or peanut butter on tortillas. Or pickle sandwiches.

...when one awakens hungry en la manana, anything edible goes.

Leftover pizza and flat Dr. Pepper was my breakfast almost every Saturday morning when I lived in the dorms.

 

[graylshaped]

Half-man. Half-banana. All terror.

Manana.

I thought it was spelled Manamana.


Du-doo-da-doo doo.



edit: silly transposition

 

[graylshaped]

Leftover pizza and flat Dr. Pepper was my breakfast almost every Saturday morning when I lived in the dorms.

but at least you could afford pizza.

I worked three mornings a week at a fast food place. Went in at 3 am to filter the fryer oil, sanitize and assemble the Taylor milk shake machines, submit sales data from the day before to corporate, and then run grill for breakfast. It kept me in pizza money and beer.

 

[graylshaped]

It strikes me that I every time this headline pops up in my recent list, I think it says "Trump thinks pulling out works....""