‘It’s Just Everywhere Already’: How Delays in Testing Set Back the U.S. Coronavirus Response - The New York Times

https://www.nytimes.com/2020/03/10/us/coronavirus-testing-delays.html?referringSource=articleShare

A disease specialist in Seattle had the ability (and instinct) to test for coronavirus as early as January.

Officials told her she wasn’t allowed to test. For weeks, thousands of flu samples sat in Seattle as researchers sought to test and flag them for coronavirus. The CDC wouldn’t allow it. The CDC's criteria for testing were so strict that a man who'd returned from Wuhan and was already sick did not meet them.

She tested her samples anyway and found multiple cases. She reported them to the CDC ... and the CDC told her to stop. Only the CDC was authorized to issue tests. But the CDC could not deliver a working test, and refused to allow anyone else to.

Looking back, Dr. Chu said she understood why the regulations that stymied the flu study’s efforts for weeks existed. “Those protections are in place for a reason,” she said. “You want to protect human subjects. You want to do things in an ethical way.”

The frustration, she said, was how long it took to cut through red tape to try to save lives in an outbreak that had the potential to explode in Washington State and spread in many other regions. “I don’t think people knew that back then,” she said. “We know it now.”

Hat tip to @Doc Edward Morbius

#medicine #CDC #coronavirus