Testing is just the start when it comes to ending Covid-19, doc says
As mayors manage the scarcity of Covid-19 tests in their cities, they also need to “play one chess move ahead” to make sure their communities are using testing to produce maximum impact.
That was the message Dr. Josh Sharfstein of the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health sent to 600-plus city leaders gathered online yesterday for a virtual learning session of the Coronavirus Local Response Initiative. “It’s not just testing we want,” Sharfstein said. “We want more testing and follow up. We have to make sure that it’s not just that more people are being diagnosed with coronavirus but that those diagnoses are leading to action that reduces the spread of infection from person to person.”
Sharfstein outlined three scenarios mayors are likely to face around testing in the coming weeks, and actions they can take to make the best use of it.