COVID testing is feast or famine

Arizona’s COVID-19 testing average dipped below 37,000 diagnostic tests a day last week, according to state reported data, down from about 45,000 a day two weeks ago.

Which makes sense. Cases are starting to back off. And the perception remains that you only get tested when you feel sick. The more cases there are, the more people go get tested.

But, really, it should be the opposite. When cases begin to drop, we should ramp up efforts to get more folks tested.

That hasn’t happened in Arizona. But it should.

It’s estimated that labs statewide have a capacity of about 80,000 tests a day, but that comes with a giant asterisk. We may have the machines to process that many samples today, if need be.

But few can afford to keep the extra staff and supplies, like reagent, on hand to maintain those capacity levels. As demand drops, labs will scale back.

“I can’t carry (supplies for) 40,000 PCR tests a day and have 200 people twiddling their thumbs,” said Dave Dexter, CEO of Sonora Quest Laboratories, which processes most of the state’s COVID-19 tests.

It’s a similar story for those that collect samples to send to labs. Embry Women’s Health, one of the state’s largest providers of free PCR testing, has had trouble penciling out the cost to provide this service, particularly in rural areas, and has warned it may need to shutter testing locations.

That would be a mistake.

Because it takes time to hire people and secure supplies. If another surge were to materialize — entirely possible, given the number of more contagious variants now floating around the U.S. — we could find ourselves without the necessary infrastructure to act quickly.

And, yes, that’s how we should view COVID-19 testing — as critical infrastructure that needs to be maintained. But how do we do that?

Well, for one, we need better public messaging about testing. People need to understand that it’s not just for those who are sick (though if you do feel ill, a test should be a priority).

Dr. Joshua LaBaer, who oversees Arizona State University’s COVID-19 response, says anyone who travels should get a test three to five days afterward. He also recommends that anyone who regularly interacts with others — including those who work in retail, a restaurant or a school — be tested weekly.

That’s critical because at least 50% of new COVID-19 infections are thought to come from people who are contagious but not symptomatic. Regularly testing those who feel well can help identify these folks a lot quicker and get them out of circulation before they’ve had a chance to expose many others.

But if we want that to happen, tests need to be two things: Convenient and free. We can’t expect people to take hours off work to drive across town, nor should we expect them to pay $100 or more a week to get tested.

That’s going to require an investment. And a sustained one, not one that comes and goes with spikes in cases.

Having that certainty could entice more providers to collect samples at long-term care facilities, businesses and, importantly, schools — the places that could most benefit from testing as community spread wanes.

Arizona State University is working on a testing program for teachers, and that’s good. But it’s going to be months before kids are approved for COVID-19 vaccines. That means we also need a strategy to regularly test the state’s 1.1 million students, if we want schools to safely remain open.

That’s not impossible. Dexter says Sonora Quest has the capacity to do the processing if samples were pooled and there was a coordinated effort to collect them.

But as with everything, that comes down to commitment and funding.

The Biden administration has promised additional funding to bolster COVID-19 testing, particularly in schools. But so far, there are few details on what that might entail.

The state shouldn’t wait to act. Vaccines are important and a rightful focus now. But it’s going to be months before they make an appreciable difference on our way of life. The reality is we are going to need testing for the long haul, and the sooner we shore up what we have, the better.

Everyone knows that Kansas City won the Super Bowl by a landslide. They should file dozens of lawsuits to try to overturn the fraudulent score.

Mike Epstein, Phoenix