US pharmacists can now test for coronavirus. They could do more if government allowed it
As Italy’s death toll from the novel coronavirus climbed to one of the highest in the world, its doctors made a plea to other countries: Manage the pandemic in the community, not in hospitals and emergency rooms.
When people with COVID-19 show up at hospitals, they can spread the virus to other patients and health care workers. Italian authorities believe that the instinct to go to the emergency room first, even when the symptoms aren’t severe, contributed to the country’s current disaster.
Like Italy’s, the United States’ health system is hospital-centered. As a result, pandemics can quickly overwhelm the hospital system, limiting its capacity to deal with other urgent medical conditions.
But an alternative exists that could help manage the pandemic among the majority of COVID-19 patie...