Commentary: The Fixation on COVID Testing Is Leading to the Widespread Disruption of Another Academic Year

Last week, a friend phoned to tell me that her child would be unable to make a playdate with my 8-year-old scheduled for the following day. Her son had tested negative for COVID that evening, yet she planned to take him for another PCR test the next morning “out of an abundance of caution.” Days earlier, a neighborhood mom was so distraught that her daughter had shared the same bus with a classmate who was later discovered to have had COVID that she insisted on stocking up on at-home testing kits for use every day that week. Despite displaying no symptoms and being fully vaccinated, the child and her siblings were subjected to daily nasal swabs.

While television programs like HBO’s Curb Your Enthusiasm poke fun at liberals who stockpile COVID essentials, progressive professionals who retain the luxury and time to devote to their hypochondria are inevitably contributing to the nationwide shortfall of available tests while undermining the efforts of Americans whose testing needs revolve around a real exposure to the virus. Yet, as has been the case since the beginning of the pandemic, American children continue to pay the heftiest price for the Left’s misguided and irresponsible conduct.

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Metro Nashville Expands COVID-19 Testing Hours

Metro Nashville is expanding COVID-19 testing hours, offering testing on the weekends for the month of January, starting Saturday.

Testing demand has been high. On Monday, nearly 1,300 individuals were tested at the Metro testing centers close to 1,600 were tested on Tuesday. That is only the number of people tested at Metro testing sites. It does not include people who get tested at other sites, like pharmacies, doctor’s offices, at home, or other places.

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Wilson County Re-Opens Drive-Thru COVID Testing Center at the Fairgrounds

The Wilson County Health Department announced that COVID testing would be moved from the Health Department building back to the Fairgrounds. Beginning Tuesday, anyone needing a COVID test may go to the Fairgrounds, but vaccines will still be offered at the Health Department building.

The Health Department said that those who need a COVID test can enter the Fairgrounds at James E. Ward Ag Road off of Tennessee Boulevard and follow the signage to the testing site. Testing will be held Monday – Friday, 8:30 – 10:30 AM, excluding holidays.

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Biden Expected to Issue Vaccine Mandate for Federal Employees

President Joe Biden is expected to announce Thursday that all federal employees and contractors must receive the COVID vaccination or undergo regular COVID testing, just two days after the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention announced that vaccinated Americans should resume wearing masks.

Though the decision is not official, Republicans have begun criticizing it and the CDC’s mask reversal, calling them federal overreach. The CDC in May said vaccinated individuals did not ned to wear masks.

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Tennessee’s Fired Immunization Chief Blasts Health Commissioner on COVID-Testing Contract

Dr. Michelle Fiscus, the recently fired director of the Tennessee Department of Health’s (TDH) Vaccine-Preventable Diseases and Immunization Program (VPDIP), blasted Tennessee Health Commissioner Lisa Piercey this week for the latter’s handling of a $26.5 million COVID-testing contract.

“We knew that she was not being truthful with that committee,” Fiscus said to NewsChannel 5, referring to testimony Piercey gave before the state legislature last December.

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Commentary: Based on School COVID Testing, Ohio College Students Are at Low Risk

College students have had a new test to pass this school year; in fact it’s a test most have been required to pass more than once: the COVID-19 test. 

When school resumed in the Fall of 2020, every higher educational institution across the United States established their individual COVID protocol plans. The 3rd largest University in the nation, The Ohio State University, jumped right in with an aggressive testing model.

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Members of Andrew Cuomo’s Family Received Special Priority for Coronavirus Testing

In yet another potential scandal for the already-embattled Governor Andrew Cuomo (D-N.Y.), a new report claims that his family members and others with close ties to his administration were given special priority with regards to early testing procedures for the coronavirus, according to The Hill.

The report, which first came from the Albany Times Union, says that Cuomo’s Health Commissioner Howard Zucker ordered the New York State Department of Health to give priority to those who Cuomo himself specifically designated, which included his brother, his mother, and one of his sisters. Such testing was conducted in their own private residences, with the officials from the Health Department going out of their way to travel to their homes just to give them the tests.

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Commentary: After a Year DeWine Sets Goal to Lift COVID Restrictions but It’s Based on Inaccurate Tests

When Governor Mike DeWine announced March 4 that Ohio’s COVID related restrictions would be lifted based on a specific case rate, it didn’t take long to get people talking.

The announcement came on the same day that Connecticut set a date to lift capacity requirements on most businesses and organizations.  Two days prior, Texas and Mississippi had announced an ending plan to mask mandates, as well as opening businesses without capacity restrictions. And the Friday after DeWine’s announcement, West Virginia and Arizona declared they are reopening all businesses. 

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