I've been looking at South Korea's official testing states, and I realize that they perform a lot fewer tests than the numbers I've been quoting from the news. Their test *capacity* is much larger than the actual # of tests they do.
cdc.go.kr/board/board.es…
cdc.go.kr/board/board.es…
For example, on the 26th, Korea performed 12,019 tests. That's 235 tests per million population.
In comparison, on the 26th the U.S. performed 107,172 tests. That's 325 tests per million population.
docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d…
In comparison, on the 26th the U.S. performed 107,172 tests. That's 325 tests per million population.
docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d…
The U.S. has performed far fewer TOTAL tests per capita than Korea, but in terms of DAILY testing, the U.S. is now considerably *ahead* of Korea in per capita terms. And still ramping up!
Of course, the U.S. has:
A) a much larger number of cases per capita
B) a huge backlog of undiscovered cases from the time when we weren't doing much testing.
Thus, we NEED more testing than Korea needs. For now. But eventually we'll clear that backlog and catch up.
A) a much larger number of cases per capita
B) a huge backlog of undiscovered cases from the time when we weren't doing much testing.
Thus, we NEED more testing than Korea needs. For now. But eventually we'll clear that backlog and catch up.
The point is, once the U.S. uses lockdowns to get our caseload down to a manageable level, we have plenty of tests ready to do #TestAndTrace. And that will only be more true as new super-tests come online:
But anyway, the fact that we now do considerably MORE daily tests per capita than South Korea should make us more confident that we've tackled that aspect of our coronavirus woes.
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