Robert Zubrin puts the point well in a National Review essay (thanks to a commenter on my last post).
There are now a variety of fast coronavirus tests that could be readily administered by businesses and schools and provide results within 20 minutes. These tests require only saliva samples, not deep upper nose swabs, and can be readily administered by practically anyone with very modest training. The FDA just approved “emergency use” of one of them by the NBA. The problem is that they won’t let the rest of us use them. Recently I was offered highly effective and economical rapid tests developed by an extremely well-qualified biotech firm. But FDA rules precluded transporting their tests across state lines. Upon appeal it now appears that the FDA might be willing to authorize such shipments on an “emergency basis,” but only for use in already overbooked clinics certified by yet another bureaucracy.
This won’t do. We need to be able to use the tests ourselves.
No clinics. No prescription. No doctor visit. No faxing forms to insurance companies.
If we were allowed to use these tests, schools and businesses could test their students and workers at the start of each week and send all virus carriers home by 9 a.m. Monday. We could end the pandemic within four weeks, without needing to shut down any schools or companies.
Testing every American every two weeks means about 30 million tests a day.
The authorities can’t possibly administer 30 million tests per day. But we — the people — can do it easily, provided we are allowed to do so.
We are currently forbidden from doing so. The financial cost is trivial compared to the $5 trillion the government is spending on covid relief.
from The Grumpy Economist https://ift.tt/2YipNIO
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