The testing is all security theater, they can't possible run all those tests, it is a long and elaborate process to detect covid19:
Currently, RT-PCR is the only way to determine if a person has Covid-19. No other kinds of tests can yet distinguish the virus that causes it from influenza or the other dozen or so respiratory bugs that are circulating this time of year. “It’s a very standard, reliable technique used in microbiology labs almost everywhere that can be quickly applied to clinical testing,” says Louis Mansky, director for the Institute of Molecular Virology at the University of Minnesota. “It’s the fastest possible kind of test to develop.”
But until other kinds of tests can be developed and approved, all Covid-19 tests have to be conducted in a lab by trained technicians. They require PCR machines and people trained to use them, so they can’t be performed in a clinic or inside a patient’s home. Since PCR is such a workhorse of the biology world, lots of research labs at universities and hospitals have the necessary equipment and personnel, says Manksy. But in the US, only labs that have been certified by the federal Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services can process clinical samples. That approval process can take months. “We have one of the more cumbersome—or, you could say, diligent—regulatory systems for testing,” says Bruce Carlson, publisher of Kalorama Information, a market research firm that covers medical diagnostics. “We’re very concerned about false positives, just as damning as false negatives.”
The test itself only takes about a day to run if you have all the required reagents.
The testing is all security theater, they can't possible run all those tests, it is a long and elaborate process to detect covid19:
Currently, RT-PCR is the only way to determine if a person has Covid-19. No other kinds of tests can yet distinguish the virus that causes it from influenza or the other dozen or so respiratory bugs that are circulating this time of year. “It’s a very standard, reliable technique used in microbiology labs almost everywhere that can be quickly applied to clinical testing,” says Louis Mansky, director for the Institute of Molecular Virology at the University of Minnesota. “It’s the fastest possible kind of test to develop.”
But until other kinds of tests can be developed and approved, all Covid-19 tests have to be conducted in a lab by trained technicians. They require PCR machines and people trained to use them, so they can’t be performed in a clinic or inside a patient’s home. Since PCR is such a workhorse of the biology world, lots of research labs at universities and hospitals have the necessary equipment and personnel, says Manksy. But in the US, only labs that have been certified by the federal Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services can process clinical samples. That approval process can take months. “We have one of the more cumbersome—or, you could say, diligent—regulatory systems for testing,” says Bruce Carlson, publisher of Kalorama Information, a market research firm that covers medical diagnostics. “We’re very concerned about false positives, just as damning as false negatives.”
The test itself only takes about a day to run if you have all the required reagents.