We have all seen over the last two plus years that “brain tickling” COVID testing of various types has become an unfortunate reality of life for many. In particular are those who chose not to take the shot which was developed rapidly and given merely an “Emergency Use Authorization” seal of temporary approval. These folks and those who contracted this “novel” virus and wanted to return to work or school were “required” to undergo this sometimes painful, and always eye watering, testing procedure.
Well, in some countries this testing procedure of questionable reliability is no longer being required. The reasons for the elimination of this mandated procedure might surprise you. According to Swedish Public Health Agency chief Karin Tegmark Wissell; “We have reached a point where the cost and relevance of the testing is no longer justifiable.” Therefore, Sweden has now paused all testing, including testing of people showing symptoms of an infection. This will put an end to mobile and citywide testing sites, drive through swabbing centers, and home delivered tests.
Of course, our nation is behind nations such as Sweden in this effort. We just delivered millions of “free” home testing kits to our citizens. Of course, as many of us will recall being told by our parents or teachers in our formative years, “Nothing is truly free,” and yes, we all paid for these “free tests” with our hard-earned tax dollars. Money that perhaps and arguably could have been spent on things that would have benefited others who were more in need of food, shelter, or clothing in our country. But that is a discussion for others and for another time.
For those of you wondering about how much money could be saved by eliminating unnecessary testing, let’s look at the figures from Sweden for the testing that they were providing. The Swedish Health Ministry estimates that the spending would be $55 million per week and $220 million per month if they were to continue testing everyone who contracts COVID. Considering the fact that the population of Sweden is currently 10,201,870 compared to our 334,162,719 we can extrapolate that savings to the US for eliminating such mandatory testing would be about 35 times the cost expenditure of Sweden.
Plausible Endgame?
As noted recently by Hans Kluge, the World Health Organization’s Europe office director, the region appears to be entering into a “plausible endgame” since the COVID-19 death rate has begun to decrease. He went on to note that health authorities will be able to control any new variants, which he went on to say “leaves us with the possibility of a long period of tranquility and a much higher level of population defense against any resurgence in transmission.”
Just what does that last part of Mr. Kluge’s quote mean you might ask? The “much higher level of population defense” means in my opinion that we have much more “herd immunity,” or individuals who have developed “natural immunity.”
This is something that I have been saying since the onset of the pandemic must occur in order for us to all be relatively safe from this “novel” viral infection. The other news for those of us on this side of the Atlantic is that not only Sweden but other European countries announced that they started removing coronavirus restrictions on February 9th.
Let’s all begin expecting our country to follow suit and begin correcting the limitations that have been imposed by many larger cities like New York, which required segregation and repetitive testing of those who received the COVID shot as well as those who chose not to do so. Perhaps some of the draconian mandates will be a thing that hopefully we can learn from as we look in the rearview mirror and study the history of our mistakes and our triumphs over a virus, and a treatment the likes of which we have never seen before.