Troublesome news
The local universities’ proposed operation plans, which don’t require mandatory student testing for COVID-19 prior to beginning on campus classes this fall (reported in the July 23 N&A) are troublesome news that defies common sense.
If those decisions are consistent with state public health guidance, then the guidance is deficient. Recently, Dr. Tom Frieden, former director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, and Dr. Cyrus Shahpar, director of a team for preventing epidemics at the nonprofit group Resolve to Save Lives, stated the United States isn’t adequately tracking the public health equivalent of vital signs, with the result that the US is losing the battle against COVID-19.
For example, the problem with Liberty’s reported plan to test students or employees upon request through the university’s health center is that once their infection rate reaches a threshold level for action (5% of students plus faculty plus staff infected triggers shifting to online instruction, and 15% infected triggers campus closure), it will be too late to protect either the university community or the host community of Lynchburg.
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Why? Because the existing significant lag in laboratory test processing has created delays up to weeks to return test results. By the time test results are obtained, the virus will have propagated significantly through the community unless individual quarantining is strictly observed, a risky bet at best.
Dr. Frieden’s group has called for time from specimen collection to case isolation to be greater than 80% within 48 hours and for diagnostic test turnaround time (from specimen collection to test report) to reach a median target of less than 48 hours with a high and increasing proportion less than 24 hours. The U.S. is not reliably close to those targets.
Citizens concerned about the proposed universities’ operating plans should contact your City Council and state representatives, and make your concerns known. If you don’t speak up for yourself, no one will do it for you.
BRIAN DELANO
Lynchburg