We're trying to make our SARS-2 tests better than we should
Ok, that's a somewhat provocative title but I think it's basically accurate. During this pandemic the US in particular has had a problem with erring towards the side of better, more expensive tests when what we've really needed has been cheaper tests. An inauspicious start The US got off to a really bad start testing for Coronavirus. Scott Gottlieb was head of the FDA until a year ago and, in contrast to many other Trump appointees, was generally acknowledged as very competent. Back in February he put together a Twitter thread outlining what was happening in terms of testing which I'll summarize here. Normally hospitals with PCR machines, which is most medium sized or larger ones, can just go ahead and develop their own tests for viruses. However the CDC thought it would be important to have widely available testing kits which would be of a higher quality than what hospitals could do themselves. So they asked HHS to declare that Covid-19 was a public health