Quince Update 4 and COVID testing

The next batch of quinces arrived. The housekeeper declared that it would be better to simply peel and chop them, and then freeze them raw, since they were a quick-cooking variety and would turn to mush if frozen after being stewed. I saw the force of this position, and agreed. They turn to mush anyway once defrosted, of course, but perhaps less so. We shall find out in a few months time. I only eat ice-cream at home if I serve it to guests, and since there have been no guests for a very long time, I still have a lot of last season's frozen strawberries that never got turned into dessert, which have priority over the quince.


I am not sure how useful mass-testing for COVID19 will be, in the absence of any way to make certain that people who test positive do not infect anyone else. There is a big difference between "isolating the COVID19 positive" and "telling them to self-isolate", with equally big differences in the likely infection outcomes.

The countries that have used mass-testing effectively as an infection-control measure (as opposed to just a way to generate some interesting datasets for future research) used it together with the immediate, physical, enforced isolation of anyone who tested positive, in secure mass facilities where they could be monitored and given appropriate treatment as necessary.