County Board Candidate Larry Spaeth Seeks More Coronavirus Testing

The following was published in the Northwest Herald and is posted here with the permission of Larry Spaeth, who wrote it.

He is running as a Democrat for the McHenry County Board in District 6.

We need testing and contact tracing

To the Editor:

Resume McHenry County Task Force, I hope that testing and contact tracing will be your top priority in your plans to reopen McHenry County from COVID-19 restrictions.

It is estimated by preliminary COVID-19 antibody testing that anywhere from 25 times to 85 times the reported COVID-19 positive cases is the actual number of the population that has been exposed to COVID-19,

In McHenry County, since our reported cases are 953 so far, it would mean that approximately 21,000 have been exposed to COVID-19.

It is also estimated that we will require 100-300 contact tracers per 1,000 population to control and isolate positive testing individuals from the general public.

Extrapolating from the number of estimated exposed citizens of McHenry County we would need at minimum about 2,100 contact tracers in McHenry County. I do not think we have that type of staffing at this time.

The simple point is, without widespread testing, we do not know who has actually been exposed and without sufficient contact tracing staffing, we do not have the capacity to isolate those who have.

= = = = =

McHenry County has been allocated $11 million for Covid-19 expenses. So far $500,000 subject to reimbursement has been spent…mainly for equipment.


Comments

County Board Candidate Larry Spaeth Seeks More Coronavirus Testing — 8 Comments

  1. Go hide in your basement fruitcake.

    I’m going to Wisconsin for dinner.

  2. The “experts” are talking about hiring 3800 FOR THE ENTIRE STATE OF ILLINOIS (which I thought was a lot) but Spaeth says that MCHENRY COUNTY ALONE needs 2100.

    Someone is pulling someone’s string here, and I wouldn’t trust Larry to peel a potato.

  3. One of the biggest issues you have with tracing is that it is only good once the virus starts to keep track of infections.

    If you have 21,000 people that have already had the virus then you are taking tests on people that have already had it.

    You are again putting a condom on someone that is already pregnant. And those numbers are probably low because they always are.

    The virus is highly contagious when people have no symptoms, unlike the flu that is more contagious when you become sick.

    Tracing whether you are for or against it is moot at this point.

    Find a treatment, find reliable testing for antibodies if someone has had it, move on.

    Only estimates of 50% of the population would get the vaccine if and when it comes out, if ever.

    That is probably high.

  4. How about independent IQ testing on Spaeth. Will he clear the 70s?

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