We're Out Of The Pandemic Phase, But We've Already Lost Track Of COVID

The U.S. seems to be losing track of COVID-19 as cases remain massively undercounted, in part due to the rise of at-home testing.

Researchers at Boston Childrens Hospital and survey company Momentive found that in the week ending April 16, most positive COVID cases were detected by at-home rapid tests , a first for the U.S.

At-home tests are finally widely available as Dr. Anthony Fauci on Tuesday declared the U.S. out of the pandemic phase of COVID-19. Home tests often are an easier choice for patients, John Brownstein, chief innovation officer at Boston Childrens Hospital, said.

But its not better for public health, because public-health data relies on detailed reporting, Brownstein told Time magazine .

For now, there is no centralized system in the U.S. for people to report their at-home test results.

The challenge of reporting an accurate count of positive COVID cases is hardly new, though.

Weve had undercounting throughout the whole pandemic, right? And that has always been an issue, Dr. Ashish Jha, the White House COVID-19 coordinator, told the Today show on NBC earlier this month.

Its also an issue experienced by many countries, not just the U.S.

Dr. Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, the World Health Organizations director-general, welcomed the decline in reported cases and deaths. He said the agency recorded the lowest weekly total in COVID-related deaths since March 2020, but warned the emergence of a new, dangerous variant is still possible.

As many countries reduce testing, WHO is receiving less and less information about transmission and sequencing, Adhanom Ghebreyesus said Tuesday. This makes us increasingly blind to patterns of transmission and evolution. But this virus wont go away just because countries stop looking for it.

Adhanom Ghebreyesus added we are still studying long-term consequences for people who contract the virus.

When it comes to a deadly virus, ignorance is not bliss, he warned.

, #COVID19 cases & deaths continue to decline, which is very good news. However, reduced testing in many countries makes us blind to patterns of transmission & evolution. When it comes to a deadly virus, ignorance is not bliss. @WHO calls for countries to maintain surveillance. pic.twitter.com/ND6tCEWJon

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, #COVID19 cases & deaths continue to decline, which is very good news. However, reduced testing in many countries makes us blind to patterns of transmission & evolution. When it comes to a deadly virus, ignorance is not bliss. @WHO calls for countries to maintain surveillance. pic.twitter.com/ND6tCEWJon
Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus (@DrTedros) April 26, 2022

Meanwhile, Fauci, director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, told PBS NewsHour on Tuesday that the U.S. is no longer seeing record-high numbers of cases, deaths and hospitalizations.

JUST IN: Dr. Anthony Fauci tells our @JudyWoodruff the U.S. is \"out of the pandemic phase.\" https://t.co/x2wbLMyl6O pic.twitter.com/xA71jE4Fuv

PBS NewsHour (@NewsHour) April 26, 2022","type":"rich","meta":{"author":"PBS NewsHour","author_url":"https://twitter.com/NewsHour","cache_age":86400,"description":"JUST IN: Dr. Anthony Fauci tells our @JudyWoodruff the U.S. is \"out of the pandemic phase.\" https://t.co/x2wbLMyl6O pic.twitter.com/xA71jE4Fuv PBS NewsHour (@NewsHour) April 26, 2022\n\n","options":{"_hide_media":{"label":"Hide photos, videos, and cards","value":false},"_maxwidth":{"label":"Adjust width","placeholder":"220-550, in px","value":""},"_theme":{"value":"","values":{"dark":"Use dark theme"}}},"provider_name":"Twitter","thumbnail_height":1084,"thumbnail_url":"https://pbs.twimg.com/media/FRTawA-X0AEopDH.jpg:large","thumbnail_width":1920,"title":"PBS NewsHour on 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JUST IN: Dr. Anthony Fauci tells our @JudyWoodruff the U.S. is "out of the pandemic phase." https://t.co/x2wbLMyl6O pic.twitter.com/xA71jE4Fuv
PBS NewsHour (@NewsHour) April 26, 2022

The E.U. said Wednesday it is moving from the emergency phase of COVID, but urged countries to increase testing.

Moving from emergency to more coordination will be essential to be ready for new outbreaks and variants, the European Commission said in a tweet.

Moving from emergency to more coordination will be essential to be ready for new outbreaks and variants.

Fragmented preparedness strategies risk undermining the benefits that EU-wide coordination of health security measures has brought so far. #HealthUnion pic.twitter.com/HMU0mSNHYh

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Moving from emergency to more coordination will be essential to be ready for new outbreaks and variants.

Fragmented preparedness strategies risk undermining the benefits that EU-wide coordination of health security measures has brought so far. #HealthUnion pic.twitter.com/HMU0mSNHYh
European Commission (@EU_Commission) April 27, 2022

In England, the government ended a universal program offering people free rapid tests on April 1. Rapid tests are now available to buy, but results cannot be reported on the government website, according to the BBC .

The U.K. government says it is following a living with COVID approach. But Dr. Stephen Griffin, virologist at the School of Medicine at the University of Leeds, said the government is ignoring the prevalence of the virus, which he called a mistake.

By not understanding how prevalent things are, people arent going to react to it, Griffin told HuffPost. And the more that we dont hear about it, the further away from peoples minds it is.

Griffin also warned about the difficulties of identifying future variants of concern.

By doing less sequencing, youre less likely to pick up those variants which might be coming in, Griffin said. And of course, the U.K. contributes massively to the global surveillance operation. So again, if were not doing that, theres less awareness on the whole, of whats going on globally.