Atlas push to 'slow the testing down' tracks with dramatic decline in one key state (FL)

[TomCADem]

Could the slow down in testing be motivated by the election?

https://www.cnn.com/2020/10/29/politics/atlas-desantis-testing-covid-florida/index.html

Washington (CNN)Shortly after joining the White House as President Donald Trump's pandemic adviser, Dr. Scott Atlas launched a quiet effort that seemed counterintuitive to some of his colleagues -- encouraging officials to limit Covid-19 testing mainly to people experiencing symptoms.

Atlas, a neuroradiologist, not an infectious disease expert, strongly supported a decision in August to revise federal guidelines to de-emphasize the need to test people without symptoms, according to two sources familiar with the process. He shared his view with state officials, including Republican Gov. Ron DeSantis and several others in Florida, according to transcripts of public events and accounts from private meetings in that state.

During a joint tour on August 31, Atlas and DeSantis urged public health officials in several Florida cities to focus less on universal testing and more on opening the economy and schools. In private and public meetings, according to transcripts and personal accounts, the two spoke in favor of testing people for Covid-19 primarily if they're experiencing symptoms, a controversial view among epidemiologists. 

"The purpose of testing is to stop people from dying," Atlas said during one stop, captured on video. "When you start introducing closure of schools because people have positive, asymptomatic tests, that's sort of not the purpose of testing."   

[beachbumbob]

1. stop all testing but hospitals still fill up which is eaxctly what is happening in Florida and all

over America. In Illinois, the hospitalizations have tripled in less than 4 weeks