The greatest country on earth

Tom Hanks had a cold, or so he thought: slight fever, body aches, chills, the usual.

In the United States, those symptoms may not be enough to get tested for the new coronavirus. But he and his wife, Rita Wilson, who also felt sick, weren’t at home — they were in Australia.

Here, testing is free and widely available, thanks to early and coordinated planning for a pandemic. On Thursday, Mr. Hanks said he and his wife had seen the efforts firsthand, as they tested positive for the virus.

“The Medical Officials have protocols that must be followed,” Mr. Hanks wrote in an announcement he posted on Twitter, choosing capital letters for his new acquaintances. “We Hanks’ will be tested, observed and isolated for as long as public health and safety requires.”

[...]

Some countries, like the United States, are looking increasingly ill prepared, or, in the case of Italy, fighting to avoid being overwhelmed. Others, like South Korea, moved quickly to test and isolate huge numbers of people and appear to be bringing their outbreaks under control.

[...]

Prime Minister Scott Morrison, still bruised from a failure to react quickly to the country’s bush-fire crisis this summer, set an emergency coronavirus plan in motion on Feb. 28.

Rather than play down the risks or promise that the problem would fade in a month or two — as President Trump did — Mr. Morrison was one of the first world leaders to declare that the virus would span the planet.

[...]

Testing has been a priority from the beginning.

Days after China shared the genome of the virus, Australia’s private testing industry — which handles everything from blood tests to stool samples — was mobilized, with the government making tests free through Medicare, the national health care plan.

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Anyone with symptoms who has traveled through countries with an outbreak of the virus, or who might have come into contact with someone who did or who seems sick, can be tested.

There is even a drive-through clinic in South Australia that will let you stay in your car for a swab, a model also used in South Korea.

  NYT

Testifying at House Oversight Committee, CDC Director Robert Redfield said that the agency has no plans to establish drive through testing centers like those in South Korea and Italy because “We’re trying to maintain the relationship between individuals and their healthcare providers.”

  Protect Our Care

Some states/cities are setting up their own.  Thank god for local officials who can take the reins when the federal government is so inept.

In the United States, little if anything about the process has been efficient or convenient. Tests have been slow to arrive across the country, in part because of a manufacturing problem, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

Criteria for who should be tested have been widened only recently. At first, the C.D.C. recommended testing only those who had traveled to Wuhan, China, or had contact with a suspected coronavirus case and had a fever or respiratory symptoms.

In late February, the guidelines were relaxed, but a patient still had to be hospitalized to be eligible for a test. Vice President Mike Pence announced on March 3 that the C.D.C. would lift those restrictions, granting tests if a physician ordered them, but doctors were asked to keep certain factors in mind before doing so. And laboratories are still reporting that the demand for testing is greater than the supply.

  NYT

So, if you think you might have the virus and you can't get tested (as seems to be way too many stories I keep reading), get yourself a ticket to Australia? Flights are not crowded these days. 

How contagious is the virus? It seems to spread very easily from person to person, especially in homes, hospitals and other confined spaces. The pathogen can travel through the air, enveloped in tiny respiratory droplets that are produced when a sick person breathes, talks, coughs or sneezes.

Stop breathing.

...but hey, do what you want...you will anyway.