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Dennis Donovan

(18,770 posts) Sun Mar 22, 2020, 01:26 PM Mar 2020

Everyone In Iceland Can Get Tested For The Coronavirus. Here's How The Results Could Help All Of Us.

https://www.buzzfeed.com/albertonardelli/coronavirus-testing-iceland

The small island nation’s large-scale testing strategy includes people who don’t have any symptoms.

Posted on March 18, 2020, at 7:23 a.m.

Alberto Nardelli
BuzzFeed News Europe Editor
Emily Ashton
BuzzFeed News Reporter

As countries around the world scramble to fight back the spread of the coronavirus, Iceland is doing things a little differently from the rest — and the approach could have a much larger impact on our understanding of the virus.

The small island nation of 364,000 is carrying out large-scale testing among its general population, making it the latest country to put aggressive testing at the heart of its fight against the pandemic.

But — crucially — the testing also includes people who show no symptoms of the disease.

Iceland’s government said it has so far tested a higher proportion of its citizens than anywhere else in the world.

The number of individuals tested by the country’s health authorities and the biotechnology firm deCode Genetics — 3,787 — roughly translates to 10,405 per million, which compares to about 5,203 in South Korea, 2478 in Italy, and 764 in the UK.

"Iceland’s population puts it in the unique position of having very high testing capabilities with help from the Icelandic medical research company deCode Genetics, who are offering to perform large scale testing," Thorolfur Guðnason, Iceland’s chief epidemiologist, told BuzzFeed News.

</snip>

Makes sense. Since testing for the virus is the primary denominator, you can get an accurate idea not only about the infection rate, but about the CFR, demographics of patients, etc.

9 replies

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Highlight:

Everyone In Iceland Can Get Tested For The Coronavirus. Here's How The Results Could Help All Of Us. (Original Post) Dennis Donovan Mar 2020 OP

Iceland must have found a way to get 364,000 test kits, The Velveteen Ocelot Mar 2020 #1

It's easier to get kits for 364,000 than it is 320,000,000. Initech Mar 2020 #4

Definitely. But we can't even get 364,000. The Velveteen Ocelot Mar 2020 #5

True. Chump is doing everything he can to screw this up. Initech Mar 2020 #6

Really, don't understand this, " only get a test if you need it " Walleye Mar 2020 #2

K and R dewsgirl Mar 2020 #3

They're only testing few hundred a day, regardless of their intent mathematic Mar 2020 #7

Bad subject line. Igel Mar 2020 #8

I find it worrisome when I hear officials poo-poohing the idea of testing peggysue2 Mar 2020 #9

The Velveteen Ocelot

(115,732 posts)

1. Iceland must have found a way to get 364,000 test kits,

Reply to Dennis Donovan (Original post)

Sun Mar 22, 2020, 01:30 PM

Mar 2020

which puts them way ahead of us. Iceland also does extensive genetic testing, which is kind of important for a small population.

Initech

(100,080 posts)

4. It's easier to get kits for 364,000 than it is 320,000,000.

Reply to The Velveteen Ocelot (Reply #1)

Sun Mar 22, 2020, 01:33 PM

Mar 2020

The Velveteen Ocelot

(115,732 posts)

5. Definitely. But we can't even get 364,000.

Reply to Initech (Reply #4)

Sun Mar 22, 2020, 01:35 PM

Mar 2020

The city I live in has a larger population than all of Iceland and we are testing only the people who have been hospitalized and health care workers because we don't have enough test kits.

Initech

(100,080 posts)

6. True. Chump is doing everything he can to screw this up.

Reply to The Velveteen Ocelot (Reply #5)

Sun Mar 22, 2020, 01:37 PM

Mar 2020

Almost like he wants to fail. At least we don't have to be subjected to one of his press conferences today.

Walleye

(31,028 posts)

2. Really, don't understand this, " only get a test if you need it "

Reply to Dennis Donovan (Original post)

Sun Mar 22, 2020, 01:30 PM

Mar 2020

I took science and history in school. They never heard of Typhoid Mary?

dewsgirl

(14,961 posts)

3. K and R

Reply to Dennis Donovan (Original post)

Sun Mar 22, 2020, 01:32 PM

Mar 2020

mathematic

(1,439 posts)

7. They're only testing few hundred a day, regardless of their intent

Reply to Dennis Donovan (Original post)

Sun Mar 22, 2020, 01:45 PM

Mar 2020

This story is basically propaganda. They've been testing since the week of the 9th and they've only tested a few thousand. At this rate, the entire population of iceland will tested by the second biden administration.

Igel

(35,317 posts)

8. Bad subject line.

Reply to Dennis Donovan (Original post)

Sun Mar 22, 2020, 02:01 PM

Mar 2020

"10,405 per million" means about 1% has been tested. "Everyone" doesn't equal "1%".

The US is currently at about 200,000 tested. Which is still a lot lower per capita than Iceland, to be sure.

But this is the way we have to test to get valid data.

Right now we know that the positives for those 200k tests are at 25k, so maybe 13%. But we've only focused on testing those with symptoms in certain groups and primarily in certain areas. The actual positive/total count ranges from 25% positives (in, say, NY) to a lot, lot lower.

It also doesn't help that some states aren't reporting negatives, just positives, and that some labs aren't reporting to their state health agencies.

https://covidtracking.com/data/ is far from perfect (as they readily tell you before you get to the first number) but is still about the best that's out there for the US.

peggysue2

(10,830 posts)

9. I find it worrisome when I hear officials poo-poohing the idea of testing

Reply to Dennis Donovan (Original post)

Sun Mar 22, 2020, 02:29 PM

Mar 2020

Not the responsible Governors but others at lower rungs who insist 'we're beyond the testing phase.' While it's true that we've lost the window for containing the virus, the only way health officials can track the spread and reduce the curve is through ever-widening testing applications.

Trump loves the sound of invisible enemy; he's repeated the phrase frequently. Yet the way we make the virus visible is through testing and tracking. It's the way in which Asian countries got a handle on their own outbreaks. Doing otherwise will mean we're fighting the outbreak while blindfolded.

Testing, testing, testing. Then collecting that data followed by tracking, identifying, isolating.

We should be duplicating the best examples out there.

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