[ExI] Bill Gates on Covid: Most US Tests Are ‘Completely Garbage’

[John Clark]

On Mon, Aug 10, 2020 at 6:46 PM spike jones via extropy-chat <
extropy-chat at lists.extropy.org> wrote:

 >> Bill Gates on Covid: Most US Tests Are ‘Completely Garbage’
>> <https://www.wired.com/story/bill-gates-on-covid-most-us-tests-are-completely-garbage/>
>
>
>
> Spike, I wish you'd read the entire interview, and not just the headline,
>> and tell me if you agree with Bill Gates or not.  I certainly do! Gates
>> is not saying all Colvin 19 tests are garbage, just those conducted by the
>> USA, because regardless of how accurate the test may be if it takes 10 days
>> to two weeks to get the results, and not 15 minutes as in most other parts
>> of the world, then the tests are, although perhaps of some historical
>> value, completely useless as a tool for slowing the spread of the virus…
>
>

*> I agree with that. *
>

You do?!


> *> I have never seen testing as an effective tool for this.*
>

Then you don't agree with that, you have just read the headline and not the
article because Gates talks about how testing is an effective tool for
preventing the virus spread IF it is not conducted in a bungled manner as
the US has done. Well OK, he doesn't use the word "bungled", he's much too
diplomatic for that, but it's perfectly clear what he means.


* > I haven’t seen these tests available at the drug store. *
>

I haven't seen such a test in a drugstore either, at least not in a
drugstore in the USA.

> I don’t even know where I would get one.
>

Trump knows where to get them, he sees such virus tests every single
day. Before
anybody can come into contact with Trump in the White House they must
first take
such a test. Professional sports teams have use of such tests too, but of
course the common people do not, at least not unless the common people live
in a more advanced country like South Korea or Japan or Australia or....

> *Do you?*


Yes I do. The European Union has approved and has been using three
different rapid COVID-19 tests as early as March:

Why is the US so far behind on rapid testing for Covid-19?
<https://qz.com/1889478/why-is-the-us-so-far-behind-on-rapid-testing-for-covid-19/>

> *I know nothing and care nothing about the political leanings of Bill
> Gates,*
>

Bill Gates has always been very diplomatic and apolitical (a bit too much
in my humble opinion), however in this most recent interview I detect an
undercurrent of exasperation, it's not much but it's the most I've ever
seen from him; nevertheless the man is smart as hell and I really think it
would be worth your time to read the article. Perhaps Norman Borlaug could
have beaten him but I don't believe any human being alive today has saved
more lives than Bill Gates has, he's worth listening to.

*>Nothing I have seen in this dataset challenges my world view in the
> least. *
>

And I am not surprised in the least. I don't think ANYTHING can change your
worldview, not EVER, regardless of what new evidence comes to light. And I
think Thomas Bayes would not approve.

John K Clark
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