In July, my brother planned a weekend trip to Michigan’s Upper Peninsula with friends. The week of the trip, they all decided to get tested for COVID-19. Everyone in the group got their (negative) results back within a few days — except my brother.
It took seven days for him to get his (also negative) results. By that point, the day he’d planned to leave had come and gone, and he’d decided to stay home. It was a hard call, but the right one. He could have been infected earlier in the week and not have known it.
It didn’t matter what the results were. By the time they arrived, they were obsolete.
Based on estimates from Harvard and the Rockefeller Foundation, the U.S. needs to administer at least 5 million tests per day with turnaround under two days to effectively contain COVID‑19 community spread. Currently, we’re at about 5 million tests per week, with an average turnaround of four days and many people waiting much longer.
