FUBAR

[timelets]

It's quite possible that the low number of US cases is due to the faulty test kit provided by CDC:

The World Health Organization (WHO) has shipped testing kits to 57 countries. China had five commercial tests on the market 1 month ago and can now do up to 1.6 million tests a week; South Korea has tested 65,000 people so far. The U. S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), in contrast, has done only 459 tests since the epidemic began. The rollout of a CDC-designed test kit to state and local labs has become a fiasco because it contained a faulty reagent. Labs around the country eager to test more suspected cases—and test them faster—have been unable to do so. No commercial or state labs have the approval to use their own tests.

https://www.sciencemag.org/news/2020/02/united-states-badly-bungled-coronavirus-testing-things-may-soon-improve

Comments

[juan_gandhi]

Demonstrates the state we are suddenly all in.

[timelets]

The healthcare system has very little, if any, spare capacity. Tests is just one aspect of the problem, which is relatively easy to fix. A much more difficult problem would be to find extra personnel to deal with administering tests and treating the sick. I doubt we can mobilize doctors and nurses like they did it in China, Korea or Singapore.