Coronavirus testing is not a magic bullet

JANICE Turner, The Times,

Comment, berates the government for insufficient testing capacity, “How dare ministers point the finger at us (Times, September 19) but very efficient testing would require an investment beyond the nation’s resources available. It would mean regular routine testing for all members of the 67 million UK population on a twice monthly basis.

The problem of even the current system is that someone could test negative one week, go back to work, and then become positive the next week without taking a test. So no test is definitive for ever because of the changes in circumstances and people’s behaviour.

Also, even those who have had the disease and recovered face an uncertain future. It is not known how long immunity lasts and how strong it would be.

Testing is not a magic bullet, it is only one technique for dealing with a dangerous virus.

The cause of the virus is beyond the government’s sphere of responsibility. It probably originated in a wet market on the other side of the world before spreading rapidly globally.

The UK population may think that “...it is the government’s responsibility to solve our health, welfare and economic problems”. It isn’t.

It is down to the individual’s behaviour: social distancing, washing, not travelling, not mixing, etc, in the short term, and in the long term, recognising that humans contribution to climate change probably has a good part to play behind new viruses now emerging.

Elizabeth Smith Woodmancote, Glos