The White House said Monday it will dole out $11 billion to states to dramatically increase coronavirus testing and vowed to meet governors’ demands for the supplies they need to collect specimens, part of a blitz President Trump described as the biggest manufacturing ramp-up since World War II.
Mr. Trump said if someone wants to get a test immediately, “they’ll be able to get tested.” His team clarified that though states still are prioritizing people who have symptoms, they also are testing more people who seem to be healthy.
The president promoted the plan in front of an array of diagnostic machines, products and a huge banner that read: “America leads the world in testing.”
“And it’s not even close,” the president said.
He said Americans are performing roughly 300,000 tests per day and will have conducted a world-leading 10 million tests before the end of the week. His administration wants states to test all staff and residents at nursing homes and workers at the meat processing plants that Mr. Trump ordered to remain open.
Congress approved the funding for states in the relief package known as the CARES Act.
The country is now “in a place where everyone has what they need,” said a senior administration official, who pledged to send enough swabs and other supplies to meet each state’s testing quota this month.
“My administration marshaled every resource at our nation’s disposal — public, private, military, economic, scientific and industrial, all at your disposal,” Mr. Trump said.
Mr. Trump promoted his pandemic response after complaints that the administration got off to a slow start in detecting the virus and was prodding governors to reopen their economies without giving them enough support or guidance.
Widespread COVID-19 testing is considered critical to reopening the country during the pandemic. The coronavirus has infected more than 1.3 million people and killed more than 80,000 in the U.S.
The diagnostics root out those who are carrying the disease, especially those who don’t show symptoms, and make sure they are isolated for a sufficient period instead of spreading the virus.
Recent cases of COVID-19 at the heavily secured White House, however, threaten to undercut Mr. Trump’s push to get American life back to normal.
One of Mr. Trump’s valets, a Navy employee, tested positive, and so did Katie Miller, a spokeswoman for Vice President Mike Pence. Top government officials involved in the pandemic response are self-isolating at home as a precaution because they were potentially exposed during White House meetings.
“I don’t think the system broke down at all,” Mr. Trump said. “It can happen; it’s the hidden enemy.”
He said most aides are wearing masks and that he stands far enough away from people during public events to keep everyone safe.
Mr. Trump and those around him are tested frequently, raising the question of when every American will have the same protections.
The president said he is leaving it up to governors to dictate who will be tested before returning to work.
“I think they’re making a lot of good decisions,” Mr. Trump said.
Pennsylvania’s strategy calls for testing 2% of its population in each of its six designated health regions that cover the state. It also is trying to ensure that 90% of the population lives within 45 miles of a testing site.
Maryland Gov. Larry Hogan, a Republican, has outlined a strategy that focuses on “high-priority outbreaks and clusters, nursing homes, health care workers, and first responders, as well as community-based testing in areas with higher concentrations of cases.”
The state also is expanding drive-thru testing at vehicle emissions inspection sites. It is conducting universal testing of all residents and staff at nursing homes and all workers at poultry processing plants.
New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo, a Democrat, said Monday that regions in his state won’t reopen until they have reached certain benchmarks, such as a sustained decline in hospitalizations, sufficient hospital and bed space for a potential resurgence, and a certain percentage of people tested per month.
“Some regions are ready to go today,” he said.
Experts say it doesn’t necessarily mean every American will be tested at a specific interval.
“It’s just that when individuals present to their health care providers with symptoms, of any severity, that they will be able to be tested for the novel coronavirus without any consideration regarding the supply chain of reagents or nasal swabs,” said Amesh Adalja, a senior scholar at the Johns Hopkins Center for Health Security. “This would be a seamless testing policy. By doing this, we will be able to find cases and then prompt case-contact investigation, which would again [result in] testing of close contacts to try and uncover more cases.”
The Food and Drug Administration in recent days approved an antigen test that can detect proteins from the virus in a person’s nose. Within a few weeks, officials said, the Quidel Corp. will put 300,000 tests on the market every day, meaning 9 million more tests will be in circulation per month.
“These are the best machines and the best equipment anywhere in the world,” Mr. Trump said, pointing out an array of products in the Rose Garden.
Mr. Trump said 240 testing sites are available at retail locations across the country now and over 300 will be available by the end of the week. He said many of them will be in poorer and underserved communities.
Adm. Brett Giroir, the U.S. testing “czar,” echoed Mr. Trump’s claim that the U.S. is already the undisputed champion of testing.
“Today we will have done more than twice the per capita rate of testing that was done in South Korea,” he said.
Mr. Trump frequently compares U.S. efforts with those in South Korea, which earned praise for its early response to the COVID-19 outbreak but is dealing with flare-ups traced to nightclubs in the Itaewon neighborhood of Seoul.
South Korea this week donated 2 million face masks to the U.S. through the Federal Emergency Management Agency.
The Department of Veterans Affairs is scheduled to receive 500,000 masks from South Korea on Tuesday as a goodwill gesture to mark the 70th anniversary of the start of the Korean War and the countries’ enduring alliance.
“Our alliance and friendship are as vital and ironclad today as it was 70 years ago,” tweeted Harry Harris, the U.S. ambassador to South Korea.
