Stop the Covid Testing Madness!

I’ll give you a half dozen reasons why:

1. Testing takes time: You were sent home from work or school yesterday with symptoms. You might not find a PCR test appointment for a couple days, but even if you did test today, you will get your positive result in 1–2 days (sometimes delayed because of weather or labor shortages). By then you will have spent a few days at home already. Current guidelines tell you to isolate 5 days from the start of symptoms, not 10 days from your test date anymore — that’s a big change. It means you only have 1–2 more days at home after your positive result anyway. Count two days this weekend and it hardly matters whether you are positive, with regards to when you can return to work or school. And never mind the rapid test (whether a home rapid or at a doctor office) — the negatives are not accurate enough to have much utility unless you test everyone every day.
2. Stay home anyway: If you are Covid negative, you probably have a common cold or maybe the flu, and either way you should stay home about 5 days, including this weekend. In that case, it doesn’t even matter if you test. Some employees, like healthcare workers currently, are being told to come to work Covid positive and just wear a mask and work in areas with less contact with people. So what does it matter if you are positive? Don’t do the test if the outcome doesn’t change what you are going to do.
3. Testing spreads germs: It doesn’t matter if your runny nose is Covid negative today, because you may become positive tomorrow, especially if your immune system is weak from a common cold and you visit a testing site full of Covid positive air. Or if you do have Covid, you may infect others who don’t, as you go to the testing site or pick up some Ibuprofen from the grocery. Just stay home 5 days, and don’t go out to get tested.
4. There are not enough tests to be testing every human every 3 days. There are not enough delivery services to move them to the lab. And there is certainly not enough medical staff to manage all this. I run a family medicine office and my staff is severely overwhelmed with Covid work, and all this Covid testing takes away from diabetes, other kids’ shots, and any other non Covid thing. Do your civic duty: skip testing and just stay home 5 days. I know you are bored sitting home 5 days, and the testing site is the only place you are allowed to go, but please stay away for my sanity.
5. Employers: Testing doesn’t make dishonest workers honest. Keeping workers on the job is important, especially with labor shortages and paid sick leave. But in my observation, there is not much correlation between testing and keeping Covid out of workplaces. People spread Covid a couple days before they have symptoms, people can test negative and still get Covid the next day, etc. Employers wanting work excuses isn’t new — it has never made dishonest employees honest (trust me, I’ve been doling out work excuses for a decade). Even before Covid it resulted in spreading infection, making sick patients leave their comfy bed unnecessarily, and wasting doctor time. Really if you want to prevent Covid at your work or school, then focus on masks, vaccines, opening windows, and spreading people out, not testing. Btw, most of your employees are honest, and no amount of doctors excuses are going to change the ones that aren’t.
6. Prophylactic testing doesn’t work. Like for travel or museums. At the rate Covid is spreading, you can be negative today, and pick it up tomorrow, especially at an airport terminal if you don’t wear your mask properly. Pre travel testing is window dressing, just like sanitized pens and flight attendants with paper gowns.

That’s enough reasons. I think we are at the point where testing should be saved for babies and those who are dumb enough to not be fully vaccinated.

thats me