[StevePerkins]

Well, then add on the number of people who just don't get a test regardless. My child had a fever a few weeks ago, it was an ORDEAL finding a place to get him tested. You have to be quite motivated.

If you're not sick enough to require hospitalization, and especially if you're un-insured and poor and don't want to pay a couple-hundred bucks out of pocket, then you'll probably just ride it out and never get tested. I'm sure this is the state of things for tens of millions of Americans.

[learc83]

>My child had a fever a few weeks ago, it was an ORDEAL finding a place to get him tested. You have to be quite motivated.

That's because the test won't change anything. If it's positive, they'll tell you to isolate your kid. If it's negative, there's a high enough false negative rate that you'll still need to basically treat them like they have COVID (stay home and isolate).

[AstralStorm]

Incorrect. Not being treated early is likely a main factor between likelihood of medium to severe.vs no to mild symptoms, beyond immunity. And isolation of sick patient from viral reservoir (such as fomites and other asymptomatic sick) is known to be important too, as it changes the viral inoculum dose.

[learc83]

Normal healthy children who don't develop a severe case aren't treated at all, so talking about early treatment is irrelevant. I literally just talked about this with a close family member who is a Children's ER doctor.

>And isolation of sick patient from viral reservoir (such as fomites and other asymptomatic sick) is known to be important too, as it changes the viral inoculum dose.

This isn't known to be important. If a person has been infected long enough that they are already symptomatic then "viral inoculum dose" is irrelevant.