This is an unpopular opinion, and I was actually hesitating about posting this. But this is why I think we should not do mass testing yet.

1. Our doctors and medical practitioners are not the frontliners in this “war” against COVID-19. We, the general public, are. They are our last line of defense.
2. Our hospitals, doctors and medical practitioners, are already overwhelmed by the number of cases they are handling. They don’t have enough equipment, they don’t have enough hands.
3. As our last line of defense, we need to minimize the number of cases we send to our hospitals. Current testing criteria (barring these “VIPs”) limit cases as much as possible to those who are critical and require urgent medical care.
4. Increasing exposure of our last line of defense to the virus by sending more people their way, also increases the chances of them getting infected.
5. Testing negative now – does not eliminate your risk of testing positive tomorrow. Do we have the capability and capacity to keep on testing every day?
6. Testing positive is enough reason for one to want to be hospitalized – would you take the risk and go home knowing you have the virus?

We are taking the most conservative approach now, just by having everyone undergo quarantine because we prevent putting so much burden to our last line of defense. They can focus on saving those that are already in critical condition but we are responsible for the lives of the people we send their way. Whether we have the virus or not, we should act like we have it, so that we don’t spread it.

This doesn’t discount that mass testing is an effective solution. It worked for South Korea. It is painful to admit it but we have to accept that our country, our government, and even our people’s behavior and situation – aren’t at the level where South Korea is. We need to deal with the cards we are given.

If we’re sure we are prepared and well-equipped, yes, definitely! But right now, we may just overwhelm our health care systems – so maybe not yet. It would also help to check with our hospitals and doctors what their opinion on this is before we proceed.

Hoping we all survive this sooner than later!