Cost of Covid testing in China

[Dawei3]

Many on this forum have likely read about or those in China may have experienced the high level of PCR testing for Covid in China.  I never thought about the cost of testing and if I did, I would have totally underestimated (unless I had systematically estimated based on populations and # of tests).  Some friends in Shanghai & Beijing have been tested 30, 40, 50 or more times (so much so they lost count).  

 

A recent article in the Economist offers the estimated costs of the tests this year:  $254 billion.  As context, in 2019 China spent $249 billion in subsidizing favored industries.  Notably, this is just the testing cost.  It doesn't include the economic costs of the shut downs.  Notably, in Shanghai for the month of April, zero cars were sold.  Many businesses will struggle to reopen.  

https://www.economist.com/business/2022/05/14/chinas-zero-covid-industrial-complex

(you can read this article for free if you register).

 

The West can be criticized for its sometimes lax response to the virus.  However, the above illustrates the cost of extreme controls.  In addition, the goal of zero positive when testing 10s of millions of people ignores the fact that even PCR tests can give false positives, that is, it's not a scientific approach.  

 

 

 

[sekkar]

Yup, they know it's super costly, hence why they are moving towards making you pay for tests.

 

Here in Shanghai we were supposed to start paying ourselves for Covid test starting from 1st of July, but this date seems to have been pushed back until the end of July now.

[889]

Thar's gold in them thar RATs.

[becky82]

On 6/13/2022 at 9:47 AM, Dawei3 said:

Some friends in Shanghai & Beijing have been tested 30, 40, 50 or more times (so much so they lost count).  

 

Judging from my phone, I'm up to 17 in the recent batch, most of which have been in the last month or so.  It wasn't that long ago that it wasn't needed at all.  We still need it every 2 or 3 days here.  It's been free thus far, though.

[abcdefg]

Testing is big business. I wonder whether the companies that are profiting from it will be loathe to let that income stream go, regardless of when the scientists say it's no longer necessary. If some powerful politician's son-in-law becomes a "Covid Testing Tycoon," we may all be getting tested for many years to come.