Who Is in Charge?

As we have been arguing for almost three months, February 4th to be exact, testing is essential, not just those with symptoms but broad based testing. For example, it we open up our international borders then anyone must be tested before boarding and have a certificate indicating as such. Likewise, even domestic flights should have some semblance of testing.

But to accomplish this we must test. Nature reports on the gross incompetence of our Government entities, mostly State and Local, but including bureaucratic ones like the CDC, who have hindered the massive capabilities of University Labs such as those at MIT. I also earlier reported that the test for COVID-19 is relatively trivial:

1. Get a sample
2. Separate the RNA by washing the DNA out
3. Target the COVID RNA with a sequence of say 100 nucleotides
4. Reverse transcriptase the RNA to cDNA
5. RT-PCR the DNA
6. Next Gen Sequence to detect

Now most Juniors at MIT Bio may have done this in a lab already, and Broad can ramp up a large volume of testing. Yes, it does require quality testing, logistics, reporting integrity and timeliness, and security.

BUT, guess what, nobody has come knocking. As nature notes:

The Broad and several other leading US labs spent thousands of dollars to pivot their facilities — which usually focus on topics from genome engineering to stem-cell research — to testing people for the coronavirus, using the basic technique PCR. They navigated complex federal regulations and tweaked their molecular-biology protocols. But despite this, some say they’re performing at half capacity or less because of supply shortages or because hospitals won't send them samples. “We can give results in 12 hours — 24 at the most,” says David Pride, an infectious-disease specialist at the University of California, San Diego, who helps lead a testing operation. But he’s found that many hospitals continue to stick with the diagnostic companies they are accustomed to — even though turnaround times are reported to be three to seven days because of demand.

So what is the problem? Nature calls for a national Federal Strategy. Nonsense. It should be local and see what works best. Just think how long some national strategy would take and the overhead. The test is relatively simple. Reporting and logistics are complex and frankly few entities are capable, especially the Fed, and equally states. Again I remind the reader, think Motor Vehicle Offices, and COBOL in New Jersey.

We have a wealth of high tech companies whose resources could/should be used but they seem reluctant to volunteer. Unlike WW II, our technology companies are internationalists and may be fearful of offending some third party, or worse, dislike the United States.

Moreover our current testing locations look like detention camps. Often we have armed National Guard troops checking IDs, directing traffic, and then "nurses" jamming almost foot long wooden sticks through a human nasopharynx.

The politics in this mess is the worst ever. And yes, so it the media.