1. Wuhan is calling its mass testing drive a "10-day battle." @vwang3 and I take a closer look at the government's plans to test 11 million residents. The numbers are staggering. nytimes.com/2020/05/14/wor…
@vwang3 2. The official Health Daily newspaper said in a report on Thursday that Wuhan’s authorities would have to conduct at least 730,000 tests a day to finish within 10 days. The current testing capacity in Wuhan is around 100,000 tests a day under extreme circumstances.
3. By comparison, South Korea was testing 20,000 people a day -- already a pretty impressive rate. But if it wants to match Wuhan's ambitions, it would have to take about a year and a half to test 11 million people.
4. An employee working w Wuhan’s mayor said the tests would be carried out in a staggered manner. Some neighborhoods would start earlier than others, but each would plan to finish testing its residents within 10 days.
5. Now, here comes the staggering numbers. China can now produce 5 million testing kits every day, according to a govt spokesman. Wuhan’s deputy mayor, Li Qiang, said last month that it could handle a daily average of 46,000 coronavirus tests.
6. By comparison, Governor Andrew Cuomo said state of NY is conducting around 30,000 tests a day. He wants to ramp this up to 40,000. nytimes.com/video/us/polit…
7. I covered the massive testing debacles in the early weeks of the outbreak in Wuhan. It has come a long way since then.
Now, testing is widely available around the country. Many companies are arranging for their staff to get tested before they resume work.
Now, testing is widely available around the country. Many companies are arranging for their staff to get tested before they resume work.
8. Hundreds of hospitals and clinics are now able to test people, and labs can process the results more quickly. And I thk this is crucial: Even before Wuhan launched its mass testing drive, the govt covered nearly the full cost of a test under its basic medical insurance scheme.
9. For this mass testing drive, Wuhan residents need not pay at all, according to local govt notices and media reports. The govt has not said how it would finance it but the cost of the drive, which it estimated would exceed around $140 mln, would likely be borne by the city.
10. In Wuhan, the reaction is mixed. Some are supportive but others are concerned or angry about being asked to join long lines outdoors because they are worried about being infected. Even though the lockdown has lifted, many residents have still chosen to stay home.
11. Wuhan is doing this now because of six recent coronavirus cases, which broke a streak of more than a month w/o any new confirmed infections. A big goal would be to find all the asymptomatic cases in the city, which would give them a full picture of the risks of reopening.
12. We still don't know whether all this is necessary. Even Wu Zunyou, the chief epidemiologist of China’s Center for Disease Control and Prevention, said there was no need to screen everyone. But this only underscores China's resolve in stamping out the virus. END.
