"What they said on that phone call very clearly was cease and desist..Stop Testing"

[Dennis Donovan]

1. I posted it last Tue-It was the thing that made me say to myself, "get what you need NOW! It's here"

https://www.democraticunderground.com/100213071285

In late January, the first confirmed American case of the coronavirus had landed in her area. Critical questions needed answers: Had the man infected anyone else? Was the deadly virus already lurking in other communities and spreading?

As luck would have it, Dr. Chu had a way to monitor the region. For months, as part of a research project into the flu, she and a team of researchers had been collecting nasal swabs from residents experiencing symptoms throughout the Puget Sound region.

To repurpose the tests for monitoring the coronavirus, they would need the support of state and federal officials. But nearly everywhere Dr. Chu turned, officials repeatedly rejected the idea, interviews and emails show, even as weeks crawled by and outbreaks emerged in countries outside of China, where the infection began.

By Feb. 25, Dr. Chu and her colleagues could not bear to wait any longer. They began performing coronavirus tests, without government approval.

What came back confirmed their worst fear. They quickly had a positive test from a local teenager with no recent travel history. The coronavirus had already established itself on American soil without anybody realizing it.

“It must have been here this entire time,” Dr. Chu recalled thinking with dread. “It’s just everywhere already.”

</snip>

I went out that day and got 2-3 weeks of supplies and have been self-isolating ever since. My goal is to NOT get sick during round 1 (the "tsunami" Cuomo predicts will hit hospitals in NYS) where I'd have the least likely favorable outcome (they might have to let me die in favor of saving someone else).