Prognosis

Costly CT Scans Filling Virus Testing Void for U.S. Physicians

  • Use of lung imaging is a ‘failure’ of testing, doctor says
  • A major U.S. radiology group has warned against the strategy

    

Photographer: Cyril Marcilhacy/Bloomberg
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Some doctors are using expensive CT scans to check for Covid-19 infections, a sign of how a dearth of quick and reliable testing options has strained the U.S. health-care system and raised potential new risks to patients and care providers.

The scans are being used at medical facilities across the nation, from a small community hospital in rural Georgia and an emergency department in Kentucky to a large medical center in Manhattan and its satellite facilities in Brooklyn and Queens.