China Tests 6.5 Million Residents for Coronavirus in Just 9 Days
China mobilized thousands of health care works to test every resident living in Wuhan, China, for COVID-19, where the novel coronavirus first began. The city has nearly finished the massive undertaking, having already tested 6.5 million of the city’s 11 million residents in just 9 days.
By Tuesday, just over 200 people have tested positive. Most of the uncovered cases have been asymptomatic.
The costs of the nucleic acid tests (NATs) are being covered by the Chinese government. The free tests have been administered in districts throughout the city, mostly at open-air, pop-up testing centers. Although health care workers have been diligent and accommodating, even testing bedridden seniors in their homes.
The wide scale testing campaign will give the public health department there a compressive understanding of the situation in the city. Most importantly, it will detect people who are asymptotic, before they infect others, further spreading the disease.
In addition to the physical benefits of the testing, there’s a psychological benefit as well. Despite being allowed to reopen, some residents in Wuhan remain worried of a second wave of infections. Public health workers in Wuhan hope that widespread testing will ease people’s fears of going outside.
A virologist at Wuhan University, Yang Zhanqiu, told The New York Times that he hoped the expansive testing campaign would make more people feel comfortable venturing outside.
According to the latest data from the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, the U.S. has performed just over 14 million coronavirus tests since the pandemic began. In comparison, Wuhan conducted 1.47 million tests on Friday alone.
Widespread coronavirus testing is widely considered an integral aspect of fighting the pandemic. Early testing can lead to rapid identification of cases, quick treatment, and contact tracing to limit a larger outbreak. Testing also captures the larger public health picture, identifying where an outbreak is happening, so resources can be funneled accordingly and mitigation efforts can begin as quickly as possible.
Testing is also necessary to safely reopen communities after stay-at-home orders are lifted, as Wuhan is demonstrating. Once the epicenter of the pandemic, Wuhan has served as a model for safely reopening, having so far avoided a second wave of infections.