On Fri, 6 Mar 2020 20:33:21 -0500, "Mr. Luddite"
wrote:

On 3/6/2020 8:17 PM, wrote:
On Fri, 6 Mar 2020 18:14:47 -0500, "Mr. Luddite"
wrote:

On 3/6/2020 6:10 PM, Mr. Luddite wrote:


The Coronavirus Task Force just announced test results on 40 something
passengers and crew who exhibited symptoms on the cruise ship "Grand
Princess" off the coast of California.

Of the 40 something tested, 19 crew members and 2 passengers tested
positive.Â* One test on another passenger was determined to be inconclusive.

So, now they are going to allow the Grand Princess to dock at a
non-commercial port this weekend and *everyone* on the ship will
be tested before they are allowed to depart.

In addition, contrary to reports by the likes of Chuck Todd on
MSNBC,Â* the government has establishedÂ* as a priority the
manufacture of more and more test kits and currently have
enough to supply every state the kits they need.Â* In addition,
the task force has partnered with two additional commercial
test companies .... one is Quest ... and both will begin
supplying more test kits as soon as Monday.

Sounds like they are slowly getting a handle on a difficult
problem.

Drives me nuts when some media outlets like MSNBC release
false information, intended to politically inflame and
scare people.




Actually, I had some of this wrong. Quest and the other testing lab
are scaling up their ability to *do* the tests ... not to
manufacture test kits.

That was the way I got it. Glad I don't have to go to Quest any time
soon. A waiting room full of coughing, sneezing people.

"Give me the needle and the vacuum bottle, I will do it in the car".
;-)



I think Quest will just be processing the test kits as they arrive from
the locations the swab samples were taken. They don't actually test
walk-ins for the virus.

I go to a local Quest Diagnostics place for blood work before any
appointments I have with my VA primary care NP. The VA contracts
all the bloodwork through Quest. They turn the results around in a
day and forward them to my VA primary care person.

Great place. Nurses are super friendly and competent.
They like vets for some reason.

I think they usually just run a good shop. I go there for my tests too
and evidently medicare pays well for tests because everyone wants them
done. I agree the people know how to pull blood.