Next Winter, What If We Test for Even More Viruses?

In Emily Martin’s ideal version of next winter, no one in her family would get sick. In Emily Martin’s realistic version of next winter, someone probably will: There are simply too many viruses and bacteria bopping around in the chilly midwestern air. When that fate befalls her household, Martin has a plan, essentially the same one she rolls out every year—test, test, test, for everything she can.

“I was a very heavy tester, even before COVID,” Martin, an epidemiologist at the University of Michigan, told me. The diagnostic reflex kicks in every time she feels even the slightest bit sick. Cough? Test. Stuffiness? Test. Scratchy throat? Test. “Even with my daughter, a couple of sniffles and I try to see if she has the flu,” Martin told me. And why not? Tests yield knowledge; they clear a path to treatments. “I just think it’s helpful to know what you have,” she said.