TOPLINE
Dr. Deborah Birx, the White House coronavirus action coordinator, stated Sunday on ABC’s “This Week” that the federal government is partnering with states and laboratories to double the capability of COVID-19 screening across the country, a pledge that comes as governors throughout the country continue to slam the federal government’s testing action and rebuke President Trump’s claim that the testing scale is “significant.”
LOS ANGELES, CA – APRIL 13: A worker wearing individual protective devices gathers the tests … [+] administered from a vehicle as Mend Urgent Care hosts a drive-thru screening for the COVID-19 virus at the Westfield Style Square in the Sherman Oaks community of Los Angeles, California.
Kevin Winter/Getty Images
SECRET TRUTHS
Before states can securely downsize stay-at-home guidelines and permit people to go back to work, health officials say a comprehensive screening program must remain in location to determine and separate brand-new virus break outs as they occur.
President Trump and his allies have actually ensured the American public for weeks that the country has the screening capacity it needs to reopen safely, however governors in charge of rolling out a testing program in the lack of a coordinated federal reaction say products are woefully inadequate.
” That’s simply delusional, to be making statements like that,” Democratic Virginia Gov. Ralph Northam said on CNN’s “State of the Union” on Sunday in action to Trump’s claim that states have an enough number of tests to begin resuming.
” It’s not precise to say there’s plenty of screening out there and the governors ought to just get it done– that’s just not being uncomplicated,” Republican politician Maryland Gov. Larry Hogan included on Jake Tapper’s program Sunday; on Friday, Republican Ohio Gov. Mike DeWine stated on MSNBC that testing is increasing “not almost quickly enough.”
In a Sunday early morning interview on ABC’s “Today”, Birx stated the White Home is working to broaden COVID-19 lab screening “in deep collaboration” with guvs and lab directors, expecting to “double the variety of tests for all Americans;” on Friday, Trump, too, dedicated to delivering 5 million testing swabs.
The White Home prepares to make sure states have whatever they require to switch on “complete capability” with a team calling “each and every single laboratory” to deal with every state to double testing efforts.
BIG NUMBER
3.7 million. That’s the number of tests the U.S. has actually administered so far, according to the COVID Tracking Task, a number that falls far below benchmarks the White Home had wanted to strike by this point. Harvard researchers recently concluded that in order for the U.S. to resume safely, testing would need to increase by 350,000 each day.
CRUCIAL QUOTE
“[To] say the governors have lots of testing and they should just get to deal with screening, that somehow we aren’t doing our task, is just definitely incorrect,” said Maryland’s Republican Guv Larry Hogan on CNN
SECRET BACKGROUND
A lack of screening has actually beleaguered the U.S. given that the beginning of the break out, a problem federal authorities say is the result of supply chain issues and a botched rollout by the Centers for Disease Control.
Lots of guvs argue that the federal government must be in charge of spearheading a nationalized testing program, with some state leaders, including Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer, getting in touch with Trump to utilize wartime powers granted to him under the Defense Production Act to plug holes in the supply chain for screening. Whitmer, in addition to other guvs, have said that hospitals are missing out on key materials required to carry out the tests.
” It’s a supply chain production problem which’s really what is holding it back.” Ohio Gov. DeWine told CNN Friday, adding that his state was also in requirement of nasal swabs, tubes and fluid for the tests.
SURPRISING TRUTH
On March 6, Trump stated that “anyone who requires a test” can “get a test.”
TANGENT
Detroit, Michigan, turned into one of the first cities in the country to make screening offered to all staff members of “necessary” companies on Friday, a model that might be reproduced throughout the country. This is an important action to reopen the city in the mayor’s plan for “ COVID-free” offices.
FURTHER READING
Coronavirus screening only part of the solution to reopen United States: Dr. Deborah Birx(ABC)
Without More Tests, America Can’t Reopen( The Atlantic)
Trump And Governors Are On A Clash Over Coronavirus Screening(CNN)
Contamination At CDC Lab Postponed Rollout Of Coronavirus Tests ( Washington Post)
Trump And Governors Are On A Collision Course Over Coronavirus Testing(CNN)
Fauci Called For ‘Rolling Reentry’ Beginning In May– Here’s What That Might Appear like( Forbes)
C.D.C. Labs Were Contaminated, Delaying Coronavirus Testing, Officials State( New York City Times)
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