There is a pervasive notion in the United States that doing more to fight any disease is always better. It’s a sentiment that’s only grown during the pandemic. In truth, we live in a world of tradeoffs with downsides to most medical interventions—which means that the ability to test is not always a reason to test.
We do not, for example, regularly test everyone for HIV; it’s clear in that case that the burdens can quickly outweigh the benefits. And yet, while most intuitively understand that we can’t regularly test everyone for every disease, acknowledging that there are tradeoffs is something many seem to be struggling with when it comes to COVID-19.
Screening school children for COVID-19 is an obvious example of intervention where the harms appear to clearly outweigh the benefits. Screening asymptomatic children for COVID-19 whether they have been in contact with someone with COVID or not has not been shown to reduce viral spread or improve child or community health. What is has been shown to do is result in unnecessary school days lost and excessive burdens on school districts and working families.