USA is behind in Coronavirus Testing. Time to Outsource Partial Testing to Non-profit Organizations like American Red Cross, etc.

Since the population of the US is significantly larger than the European countries, the equalizing metric in this analysis is: "Tests/1M Pop".  

Based on this metric, of the three hardest-hit countries in Europe -- Italy, Spain and France -- France is the only one that lags behind the US in coronavirus testing. In fact, Italy and Spain have picked up significant momentum in recent weeks. Germany has used a more structured approach to contain this outbreak from the beginning, while Switzerland has been phenomenal in testing its population. Even Canada has done a better job than the US. Unfortunately, the UK, Belgium and Netherlands have been lagging behind their neighbors.

Before opening up the non-essential services sector, the US needs to test its population, to avoid having to encounter a second wave of outbreaks, which could be deadlier. 

Ideally, the US should mobilize the well-established non-profit organizations like American Red Cross, Amnesty International USA, Planned Parenthood, Human Rights Watch, YMCA/YWCA, Food for the Poor, etc. to handle the coronavirus testing, thereby freeing up the hospitals so they can focus on what they do the best -- taking care of the patients. Even the Gates Foundation could be in the mix given their expertise in vaccinations around the world. Considering the current situation, it makes no sense to over-crowd the hospital emergency rooms with those seeking primarily coronavirus testing.  

If UPS and Fedex can handle 10X to 50X packages during the busy holiday season with temporary help, these great non-profit outfits can also handle this on-going testing juggernaut with temps. This outsourcing will not only create thousands of temporary jobs, but will also help train new healthcare graduates on-the-job. 

I disagree with those who are fiercely advocating  outsourcing of coronavirus testing to tech giants like Amazon and Google -- for one simple reason: They are in the business of making money (which is fine!) so they do not understand what caring (firing is not caring!) really means.  

Of course, the testing must be systematic with a meaningful segmentation plan, starting with those with existing jobs (see the post below).

Data Source: https://www.worldometers.info/coronavirus/

Stay safe!

-Sid Som
homequant@gmail.com

Also Read
We Need a Meaningful "Test and Return to Work" Segmentation Plan to Avoid a Bigger Rebound Disaster