So my wife ended up getting a COVID test last week (came back negative). The test process itself was a total **** show, even now with us “doing more testing than ever before”. Originally, our plan was to get one of those quick result tests, which we came to quickly realize were practically non-existent. The first 3 or 4 places she tried were out of tests entirely. Finally she found a pharmacy / urgent care place that would do “upon request” testing, after a 2 hour wait.
So I say all that to say, everyone’s plan for college football this year has included some form of instant result testing to be administered at least a couple of times per week to all players and staff in order to contain the spread during practice and actual games. Here where I am in a metropolitan area of roughly 500,000 people, tests are hard to come by period, and good luck to anyone trying to find a 15 minute test. With these scarce numbers of instant tests available, are we to believe that we as a country are going to divert roughly 350,000 of said tests away from critical people who need them (health care workers, etc.) just so we can test college and professional athletes? Is there another viable path forward from a testing standpoint? Because right now, that proposal seems like a pipe dream, and may also be very cost prohibitive for many athletic departments.
So I say all that to say, everyone’s plan for college football this year has included some form of instant result testing to be administered at least a couple of times per week to all players and staff in order to contain the spread during practice and actual games. Here where I am in a metropolitan area of roughly 500,000 people, tests are hard to come by period, and good luck to anyone trying to find a 15 minute test. With these scarce numbers of instant tests available, are we to believe that we as a country are going to divert roughly 350,000 of said tests away from critical people who need them (health care workers, etc.) just so we can test college and professional athletes? Is there another viable path forward from a testing standpoint? Because right now, that proposal seems like a pipe dream, and may also be very cost prohibitive for many athletic departments.
