Save Covid-19 testing for those who need it, not the young and healthy – Wall Street Journal

Nearly 4m Covid-19 tests have been carried out in South Africa. Of those people, nearly 640,000 tested positive, mostly in the older age categories. In this opinion piece from the Wall Street Journal, experts Jay Bhattacharya and Martin Kulldorff discuss the merits of Covid testing children and healthy people. Using Sweden as an example (the only Western country that kept schools open for students aged 15 and younger), the duo discuss how there were no Covid-19 deaths among the 1,8-million or so kids that fall in that age group. A very thought-provoking piece on school closures during the pandemic. – Jarryd Neves

The case against Covid testing for the young and healthy 

By Jay Bhattacharya and Martin Kulldorff 

(Wall Street Journal) – Should people who aren't sick be tested for Covid-19? In August the Centers for Disease and Control Prevention revised its guidance to suggest focusing on the elderly and patients with symptoms. One may be excused for thinking that more testing is always better, but that isn't true. Anyone can be infected with the virus, but there is a thousandfold difference in the risk of death between the young and the old. Testing strategy should reflect that.

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