But it's hard to reconcile this justification for lack of data, with (a) the current headlines claiming a new surge in cases, and (b) the headlines from two years ago, insisting Covid prevalence was not simply overinflated due to prevalence of testing.
I know nobody I know who had Covid that ever reported their case. All just self-tested and stayed at home for the appropriate amount of time. Why stand in line with lots of people that very probably have Covid to get tested and if you don't actually already have Covid, get Covid? Just stay home and isolate and get better.
Again just anecdata of a few but extrapolate that up to a population level and you know why they are now doing the analysis through levels in waste water to get numbers. It's way more accurate.