it is a daunting task, and costs a lot in man power, no doubt!
I understand the concept. However, my point is that to "catch" that carrier, he/she has to be sick, which means the person may have been at the grocery store, stopped to pump gas, ... whatever. You'll never be able to determine all the "contacts" in a situation like that. See what I mean? At this point we definitely don't have the resources to test every person in the state of maine, let alone all the people entering. By the time someone gets sick, the cat is out of the bag. The only testing that will help at this point is antibody testing, which shows who is safe to reenter the public space. And we don't know how long that immunity is good for, or even know if the antibody tests are sufficiently accurate, since they are brand new and have not been run on large numbers then tracked to see if the immunity seems to be holding.
Masks as a strict, no exceptions rule, in every public space in Maine is a simpler idea. So no eat in restaurants, since you have to take off your mask to eat. While most of the masks we can get our hands on aren't useful for protecting us from the virus, they say it is quite effective in keeping the germ from spreading to others. Therefore, if everyone was wearing one, the problem of not being protected would be moot, at least from a breathing point of view.
Good idea on the masks!
Well, supposedly after flattening the curve it is suppose to drop to really low levels of infected, and that is when contact tracing is suppose to start... if the flattening of curve does not go in to a dropping of the curve, we can't do it.
The reason for another month of isolation, is so the curve can go downward, and get it low enough that contact tracers can be thorough, and reach as many people in their immediate circle as possible.
The testing is not for everyone in the USA, but for hotspots and New infected patients.
I believe Germany did this early on and so did south Korea and Japan etc... initially, but they might have slacked off, too soon?
I like the mask idea, but I think those at risk will likely have to stay home. And I think cloroxing fixtures and door handles etc should be done as well.... stores need sanitizer for cash registers handling money.....
We still are not certain on those who have had it, are truly protected with antibodies....it's likely, but note proven through trials...
We also do not know how long the virus stays with us.... we thought 14 days after the symptoms ended to be safe, but in China they have people that are still testing positive, after 70 days, with no symptoms....
They all had tested negative twice before being told they were cured, but additional tests, show them positive again.... they don't know if they got false negatives, or if they caught the virus again.... without trials, we won't know that for certain....
The antibody test will help identify those with antibodies, but we still don't know a lot on it yet.... And we need 40 to 50% immunized for actual heard immunity, which could cut yearly deaths to 40,000 or so.....
Even with one person initially caught and traced through contacts can stop a couple of thousand future infections.... if followed thru.....
Maybe it's a combination of things...
