my2labs said:
Curious what your reaction is to how it’s been handled?
I am of the belief that the US did not act quickly enough and that is why we are now #1 on the world list for covid. I think the handle on it is certainly improving but it is hard to look past how it was shrugged off initially. And I am very concerned about returning to normal to quickly as well.
To be clear, I have no political stance on this at all. And it is nice to see that congress has set aside all of the BS that has been Congress for so long now to at least get a few things passed. (In normal times, I would not be happy about the recent bills)
let’s just listen to the doctors right now...
You have to be careful about a few things. The US is #1 in total active cases, but that figure doesn't count those who have died or recovered. China (if you believe their numbers at all) is on the downhill side of this and their active case count is lower and dropping. But they have had WAY more people go through it than us. So it is misleading to say "we've moved into the top spot". We lag their timeline and are still on the rise.
Testing in the US was held back because right or wrong, a decision was made at the CDC to develop a new test instead of use the same test the rest of the world was. So yes, testing lagged, and was then controlled tightly not only due to supplies but also the very few labs that could process the tests.
This is changing, we now have a test rolling out that instead of several days will take less than a minute. But this is still a developing supply situation. For now testing capacity has increased, but is still reserved for those showing more definitive symptoms and MOST IMPORTANTLY those cases where it will change the treatment plan. That is unlikely to change before we are beyond peak infection.
Vaccine trials are underway and have been for several weeks.
I do not speak for my employer but the above information is straight out of briefings in a healthcare company, not culled from facebook posts..
I will also point out that the way to read Roger's second chart is that at the same point in time from the first infection, the US infection rate is below every other nation except Japan and South Korea. Caveat about lack of testing leading to understated figures applies, of course.