[dr_dshiv]

Amen. The whole scenario seems like a bad statistics lesson.

Happy to change my mind -- but there simply hasn't been any effort to use population testing in this way -- which is one of the only useful forms of testing. Otherwise, why test people in the hospital? It doesn't change treatment. Finding asymptomatics is actually useful -- and random sampling seems critical for understanding whether we are simply fucked or actually fubar'd.

[snewman]

Agreed generally, but my understanding is that testing people in the hospital does have value. Just for one example, if you're negative, then you can be placed in a non-Covid wing (otherwise you're liable to catch the coronavirus on top of whatever flu or whatever you actually have), staff don't need to use precious PPE when treating you, etc.