America is driving blind on coronavirus testing - The Boston Globe

Despite President Trump's recent assertion that COVID-19 testing is "overrated," expanded testing will be crucial for managing the coronavirus pandemic in the coming months. The current inability of states to fully count the number of people infected means they are missing opportunities to isolate infectious patients and trace their contacts to prevent further spread.

Currently, states lack the ability to fully quantify the number of people infected with Covid-19. Due to this inability, states are missing opportunities to isolate infectious patients and trace their contacts to prevent further transmission. In this opinion piece in the Boston Globe, authors Jennifer Nuzzo and Lauren Sauer argue that “ it’s crucial that they have the capacity to identify and isolate COVID-19 cases rapidly in order to prevent case numbers from once again accelerating to pre-shutdown levels.” In order to do so, the authors emphasize the need for “smarter metrics, better data, and federal leadership.”