Compared to other countries, how are we doing with COVID-19 testing? Pretty well:
Up through mid-March our testing rate was terrible, but by early April it had picked up and has been rising steadily ever since. As of today, it’s better than nearly every European country except Italy and Switzerland.
It’s worth noting that testing data is notoriously variable, so this is more a ballpark estimate than a solid report. Also, data is not available for every country. France, for example, has data only through early March, and Germany has no data at all.¹ Still, this chart has some value. We’ll need to up our testing game before we can reopen the economy, but we’re starting from a pretty good baseline.
¹At least, no data that’s reliable enough for the Our World in Data folks to report. Other estimates have put the German testing rate at around 0.6 per thousand, slightly higher than the US number.
