Opinion: Make Covid-19 testing an empowering choice rather than a draconian punishment

Shift Covid testing from draconian punishment to empowerment - STAT Instead of viewing Covid-19 testing as a means of limiting access, reframe it as an empowering tool to let people gather more confidently. Maaisha Osman STAT

Public health is at its best when it is pragmatic in the face of complex problems fraught with stigma and uncertainty, like moving in the direction of full vaccination in the face of many Americans’ entrenched or even defiant anti-vaccination sentiment.

It is neither insightful nor actionable to so singularly promote vaccination to decision makers who must confront the here and now of various attitudes toward it. Viewing Covid-19 testing as a complementary harm-reduction approach can address the well-being of unvaccinated people while slowly building trust and confidence in Covid vaccines.

But making that work requires a radical shift in the way testing is perceived. Many Americans view testing as a draconian intrusion to be feared if not outright avoided. The goal for public health should be to make testing look more like contraceptives: cheap, convenient, ubiquitous, and empowering. This is especially important in advance of a likely increase in test volume and test requirements during the fall and winter months, when Covid-19, influenza, and respiratory syncytial virus (RSV) infection will make diagnostic testing more important.

Changing the public perception of testing requires a dramatic change in rhetoric, and also requires that public health leaders and elected officials think differently about distribution and access as a prelude to changing social norms. ...