A public health expert told Insider that Ladapo's call for people to stop relying on COVID-19 testing is consistent with an anti-public health approach to the epidemic.
The state of Florida will be focusing on testing high-value patients as cases surge due to the Omicron variant, according to Ladapo and Governor Ron DeSantis.
Ladapo said that high-value testing is likely to change outcomes.
The testing psychology that has been caused by federal leadership is being worked on.
Ladapo said that we need to live around testing. "We're going to be stuck in the same cycle so it's really time for people to be living, to be making the decisions they want regarding vaccination, and enjoy the fact that many people have natural immunity."
Dr. Gounder, an infectious disease specialist and Epidemiologist at New York City's Bellevue Hospital, told Insider that she sees this move as a focus on the individual rather than the community.
She said that testing psychology is about looking out for others. They said that you don't need to worry about other people, you can just focus on yourself. You can make your own decisions about whether or not to get a vaccine or not, and you take responsibility for your own decisions.
She said that it means that the state doesn't want people to be isolated from each other.
If they are going to focus on individuals, that's not going to be part of the policy.
Gounder said that actions in the interest of the community are actually in the individual interest.
She said a lack of understanding of this mindset is contributing to attitudes that treat COVID-19 as an individual, rather than a community-wide problem.
She said that it's corrosive to think about public health problems that are community-level. Trying to reduce those to individual issues sets you up for failure. If you care about preventing disease and death.
She said that in states where individual is the primary factor, you could see the same pattern of shifting testing techniques.
Gounder said that the right move for a state like Florida is to increase testing rather than cutting back.
She said that there is demand for testing that is not being met. "We have to put our heads in the sand and pretend this isn't happening."
