It's Thursday, October fift I'm Oscar Ramiraz from the Daily Dive podcast in Los Angeles, and this is reopening America. There was this time early in the pandemic where employers thought they would be relying on rapid response tests to get employees back to work safely. But as we have seen with recent events, testing alone won't stop the spread of COVID nineteen. These tests were not designed to be used this way, and there's only one part of a
full response plan. Arian Marshall, staff writer at Wired, joins us for how and when tests should be used for returning to work. Thanks for joining us, Sorry on, thanks for having me. I wanted to talk about testing for employers and at the workplace for some time early in the pandemic, a lot of people were writing it up as testing is going to be the main thing to get people back to work. You know, you get your tests, make sure you're testing negative, you don't have coronavirus, get
to work and you're good. And we're all kind of waiting for these rapid tests to come on board and start being a little cheaper so more people can use them. Well, a lot of employers that are relying on these rapid tests. Now are kind of rethinking it, and the obviously the White House is an example of why that might not work. The White House is relying on a lot of rapid tests to get to business as usual in people being around the president, and now we're seeing a bunch of
cases there. So Arianna tell us a little bit about these rapid tests, tell us about the nuances of how these tests should be used and how they should be used for for workers to get back to it. It's a really difficult problem. I think you're right. In the beginning of the pandemic, it felt like, well, if we could only get enough tests for everyone, then everything would be solved. We can go back to work, we can
go back to school, life continue as normal. But it's become apparent as the pandemic has gone on that a lot of tests, in particularly these rapid tests that are cheaper and that are quicker, aren't totally totally accurate. You sometimes get false positives and you also sometimes get false negatives. And the reason that's so bad and so scary is because it means that you could test negative, and you know what, workplace could say, oh okay, you don't have
the coronavirus come on in, take off your mask. Let's pretend this pandemic isn't happening outside, and we'll continue our lives, when in fact you could be asymptomatic and could be able to give the coronavirus to your coworkers. And that's such a scary proposition for people that now going forward, a lot of the really smart workplaces are saying, Okay, yeah, we may offer tests, but it's also really important that even if you test negative on those tests, you still
wear a mask and you still do social distancings. We try to do everything possible to cut down the risk for workers and for people just trying to live their lives. And these rapid tests in particular aren't really designed to catch asymptomatic cases of the virus. Those are a little more tricker. That's why you want these PCR tests, the ones that go down to a lab and are analyzed completely for any traces of the virus. So that's the other part of it is that these tests aren't designed
for that. It's a tool in a suite of things to be used. Yeah. Absolutely, that's actually one of the sort of more frightening things about the way the White House in particular was using this test. They were using it reportedly, according to The New York Times and others, they were saying, hey, if you come and take this test and you have a negative result, you can interact with people like the President at close range without a mask.
But actually the Trump administration's own Emergency Youth Authorization for some of these more recent rapid tests, which came out as recently as August, so that they were for use particularly for people with symptoms. So if you are asymptomatic and you get a negative on this test, it doesn't mean you don't have coronavirus. So it's really tricky. One of the interesting things that you found out in writing your article, though, is that testing does make people feel better.
It's an important thing. I'm not trying to diminish taking these tests, even the rapid test. It's got to be used in conjunction with a lot of things. But it does make people feel better knowing that somebody has tested negative. At least you're not uncomfortable, let's say, working around others. And it's a hard thing for employers as a result, because they have employees say hey, it would really make me feel a lot better if everyone got tests to
come back to the workplace. So employers are saying, okay, well, pony up for these if they make you feel better. But everyone should understand again that just because you've taken a test, even the more accurate tests, the tests that take a longer time, those PCR tests, and it says you're negative, that just means that in that very exact moment,
you don't have coronavirus. But it could be that you step into an elevator, you go into a grocery store, do something else, interact with other people, and then get it, you know, the very next hour. So it's hard. You did speak to a couple of businesses and a couple of people who offer guidance to businesses also on opening up their workplaces. What do they say about these rapid tests and really how employers should be getting back to work.
A lot of them are just like everyone else, working through the realities of living with this new virus that we've never seen before. And there's still so many open questions about how this virus works that you know, they're also having trouble, so they are getting new guidance from the CDC all the time. About the best ways to open up their workplace in a safe way. So the way these law firms and testing companies are advising employers is they're saying, hey, these are some important caveats when
using these tests. That these are also why that they might be valuable for you. But again keep in mind that just having the test isn't going to make you safe. If you can in your workplace, please take all the possible precautions that are also offered by the CDC and other government authorities. Yeah, and as you mentioned, the guidance is always changing. Just last month, the CDC recommended against
these test based strategies. You know, you've got to use all the tools that you have, so it is constantly a changing thing. Arian Marshall, staff writer at Wired. Thank you very much for joining us. Thanks for having me. I'm Oscar Ramirez and this has been reopening America. Don't forget the effort. Today's big news stories. You can check me out on the Daily Dive podcast every Monday to Friday, So follow us on I Heart Radio or wherever you get your podcast.