By: TJV Staff
As the ever present threat of the novel Coronavirus or COVID-19 continues to take hold of our everyday lives, we are witnessing unprecedented measures being implemented to help protect us from this deadly Chinese-based virus.
Schools are being closed as are businesses including those in the travel industry which has taken the hardest hits thus far. Public gathering spaces have issued rules for washing of one’s hands and where to go to receive help if symptoms should manifest themselves.
Currently, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has confirmed more than 89,000 cases of this virus around the world. Thus far, COVID-19 has claimed 3,048 deaths since the virus emerged in December. People with underlying conditions and those who are elderly are considered to be at greatest risk of the disease.
Because the volume of cases of those contracting the Coronavirus is escalating significantly with each passing moment, concrete steps must be taken in order to test people in a highly expedited and efficient manner.
According to a recent press release from Northwell Health, (a leader in state-of-the-art health services in a string of hospitals in the Northeast and beyond) it said:
“Dwayne Breining, MD, executive director of laboratory services at Northwell, said manual testing for coronavirus could begin this week, with 75-100 tests processed daily. Once the lab automates the process, it will have the capability to process hundreds and eventually thousands of tests daily, he said.
Once the process is fully automated, we will have the ability to conduct tests within three-to-four hours of receiving samples at the lab, and report the results immediately,” said Dr. Breining.
Prior to this week, all nasopharyngeal swab samples from patients who met the criteria for testing established by the US Centers for Disease Control & Prevention (CDC) had to be sent to the CDC’s lab in Atlanta for testing. The turnaround time for results was multiple days. To date, Northwell has referred only four samples from suspected cases to the CDC for testing.
If the virus continues to spread (there is currently only one confirmed case in New York and about 86 nationwide), the ability to have local lab-testing capability is vitally important,” Dr. Breining said.
At this juncture, we can only take the CDC to task for their inability or unwillingness to have sufficiently prepared for not only an outbreak of a virus of this sort but their slow walking in terms of creating and distributing test kits.
According to a report on TheVerge.com by Mary Beth Griggs that was posted on March 2nd, the “CDC faced backlash from local and state governments that were frustrated by flaws and delays in the CDC-developed test. Many wanted to develop and perform tests on their populations, without having to send samples down to Atlanta. The limited availability of testing has been frustrating to public health experts because it means that getting an accurate picture of how the virus is spreading in the country is extremely difficult. Without a centralized number of tests on the CDC’s website, it’s also difficult for the public to tell how much testing has expanded or how much it will expand in the future.”
The report on TheVerge.com indicated that the CDC did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
They added that “a tally of the number of people tested for the novel coronavirus disappeared from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention website on Monday. The change was first reported by journalist Judd Legum on Twitter.”
The report also indicated that last week was the first week that six public health labs were supposed to be able to perform their own tests for the virus instead of waiting for results from CDC headquarters in Atlanta. On Saturday, the Food and Drug Administration expanded the ability of local labs and hospitals to perform their own tests. With the newly expanded capacity, the number of people tested is expected to rise rapidly this week, as is the number of confirmed cases in the US.
To make matters worse, there is also the issue of price gouging to contend with. According to a March 4th report by Nick Statt on The Verge.com, such e-commerce web sites like Amazon have been considerably increasing their prices for such items as hand sanitizer and face masks.
According to the report, “the price gouging activity was first picked up on last month as COVID-19, the respiratory illness caused by the novel coronavirus, began spreading worldwide. It’s hitting popular health and safety products like 3M-produced face masks and sanitization items like Purell hand sanitizer. Neither of those companies are the ones raising the prices. Instead, it’s third-party resellers who are doing so, and it’s against Amazon’s Fair Pricing Policy that specifically warns against price gouging.”
A February 25th story that appeared on Wired.com indicated that “some items were having their prices increased by three to four times the standard level. Since then, the gouging has become noticeably worse, with 24-packs of 2-ounce hand sanitizer bottles seeing jumps from $10 per box to more than $400. Shipping costs are also being raised to exorbitant levels.”
Again, we must ask why the CDC did not prepare enough masks and hand sanitizer to be distributed to all public facilities including day care centers, assisted living facilities, nursing homes and neighborhood community centers. Disadvantaged and economically challenged communities will undoubtedly feel the adverse effects of a lack of masks, sanitizer and other items.
We say equivocally and in a voice riddled with condemnation that the CDC should be held responsible for any deaths that result from the fact that they were unconscionably negligent in preparing more than an adequate number of test kits, masks and sanitizer. Their brazen tardiness is not only unacceptable but is bordering on insane; especially in the midst of a deadly pandemic.
To those who wish to intentionally politicize this issue, we also exhort them to hold their tongues and cease and desist from assigning blame to the White House. This is a matter that should have been dealt with internally at the CDC a very long time ago!
Read more at: theverge.com and wired.com
