We Need Rapid Antigen Testing NOW

What if I told you there is an inexpensive test that can tell you in about 15 minutes whether or not you were actively shedding the Covid virus? A test you can take in the privacy of your home, and that is as easy to read as a pregnancy test. 

Sounds pretty good, right? Seems like something that everyone should have, right?

The number one problem in public health is identifying asymptomatic infectious carriers and preventing them from spreading the virus, especially from so-called outbreak events. With more contagious variants now in the US, the urgency is even more crucial. 

Now news of the vaccine, and of new highly transmissable variants, share the stage with pleas for wearing masks.  Taking in the totality of the coverage on MSNBC, the narrative reads like this: We have vaccines, but it will be awhile before most of you get one. In the meantime the rollout has been horriffic, and on top of that we are facing new variants that are exponentially more transmissable. So keep wearing your masks, keep social distancing, and keep waiting your turn. 

The public is suffering from Covid fatigue.The vast majority of people wear masks, but they see little improvement in the pace of infection and hospitalization. Part of that is no doubt due to mixed messaging, some from frustration with the pace of recovery, and part due to the lack of control people feel. There is a sense that there must be something else we can do to combat this viral enemy. 

 MSNBC does a wonderful job covering the human interest stories about front line workers, health care professionals, about the inequities exposed by the virus. But the network, which prides itself on its wokeness and focus on diversity, nonetheless lacks intellectual diversity in its coverage and a lack of perspicacity in its pursuit of Covid stories. 

Rarely are public health experts and epidemiologists given time on the air. This is their wheelhouse. While the on air doctors speak eloquently, they speak generally, and do not broach the issue of rapid antigen testing at all. Frequent guest Dr. Ashish Jah, who signed a letter with 50 other experts imploring for the use of these tests, has never been asked even one question on the matter.

I'm hopful that new leadership at the FDA and CDC will broach this impass and support the mass production and distribution of this critical public health tool. I believe new CDC Director Rachel Wallensky has spoken approvingly.

If we want our schools, indoor venues, restaurants, and small businessess reopened, we have to continue masking and physical distancing. But we have another weapon in our arsenal, and its time we put it to good use. 

Crush Them, Then Talk

Regardless of what you call it- addiction, dependence, obsession- the effect is the same. For 6 years my daily life was driven by a need. The need was insidious, affecting almost every decision and choice I made. Either directly or indirectly, opiates were always on my mind. For those six years I believed that IT is what made me feel normal. I still think of opiates, especially heroin, as a living thing. 

Models exist to help explain the causes of addiction and efficacious modes of recovery, and likewise many models have been suggested to explain Trump's hold on putative leaders and fanatical supporters. A mob boss model. A cult leader model. A host of mental health models. Whether through fear, narcissistic reward, demagogury, or some other mechanism, he succeeds in tapping into the character defects of others, generating extreme loyalty and a willingness to threaten violence.

I'm sure that even the most virulent Trump supporters don't feel like "extremists;"  they believe what they are doing makes complete sense. It is necessary. They have biases, but they look around and see that bias "confirmed." They don't define normal the way you and I might. 

 He peddles The Big Lie and continues his lifelong contempt for democracy and the rule of law. But in spite of this, very few supporters have rejected the Big Lie; even fewer have repudiated Trump and the carnage he creates.

The attack on our Capitol created small but possibly significant fissures in support for Trump. Are there people out there struggling with Trumpism in silence, who are having doubts, who would be open to another path? It is so hard to walk away from a fix, whether its a voice that validates the way you think or a drug that makes you feel "normal."

Until you can get people to accept thay they have a problem, take ownership of their situation, and express a willingness to change, recovery can't occur. The number of people I know who failed, who died from overdosing or still "half ass" recovery, far exceeds those who succeeded. My personal recovery required many difficult but necessary needed things to fall into place. The difficult thing for me today isn't the opiates, its resisting the temptation to blame others, to let resentments and grievances contaminate my thinking.  

The path from denial to acceptance to willingness is impossible without the help of others, and impossible without honesty and humility.

Much serendipity. Much support. 

There is a lot of chatter about the impeachment path, and about prospects for healing and unity as we confront the chaos and crises in front of us.  

One thing that binds ideas like honesty, humility, healing, and unity is TRUTH, or at the very least an agreement on facts, and that won't happen until enough people extricate themselves from Trump and the malignancies that define his existence.

It was at this point that I was going to impress you with a "12 Step Program"for recovery from Trumpism, but I've had a change of heart. The more I learn about Trump supporters, the more skeptical I become that the clearest path to "unity" is to both change the minds of Trump voters and hope for elected officials to have a sudden epipheny. If insurrection can't kindle humility, honesty, and a willingness to change, Democrats should stop hoping. It ain't happening.

If the Republican Party is going to change, it must come from within. Elected officials who are fearful of being "primaried" from Trump zealots are not acting on principal, so don't go looking for it. I think they need to be threatened by the party center too. Few people pay much attention to the center, because being more moderate means practicing more moderation, and that can be very boring in an age of visceral politics and news coverage. I"m sure its nothing personal, but cable news eschews the center for the extremes, and they always will. 

Anyone who thinks Democrats and Trump supporters can "work it out" is either naive or delusional. Trump supporters are the unrepentent addicts, the ones you wave goodbye to when leaving rehab. And its not just a matter of Trump's hold wearing off. It is much easier to switch from one addiction to another than giving them up completely. 

Traditional Republicans from the center-right need to put up a fight for control. The 2022 GOP primaries will tell us everything we need to know about the future of the Republican Party.