What went wrong with the coronavirus tests in the U.S.
Since Renee Schwartz developed shortness of breath and a severe cough two weeks ago, she has been trying desperately to get a coronavirus test. She has already been tested for the flu — she was negative — and other problems have been ruled out. But while her doctor thinks a test is warranted, she told Schwartz she does not have access to any tests.
“I feel like crap,” said Schwartz, 60, of North Hills, Calif. “I want to know, why can’t I get this test?”
While the stories of people who are sick but can’t get tested get widespread
attention, President Trump presented the situation very differently on a Friday afternoon visit to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in Atlanta.
“Anybody that needs a test
gets a test. Anybody that
needs a test. They are all set; they have them out there,” Trump said. “As of right now, and yesterday, anybody that needs a test can get one.”
Production is ramping up, but tests — and the labs and equipment necessary to run them — are still very limited. Even where test kits are available, many states are following strict criteria for who should be tested to avoid overwhelming their labs.
Interviews with a dozen laboratory experts and government health officials reveal a six-week series of glitches, missed opportunities and delays that contributed to the shortage.
“They’ve simply
lost time they can’t make up. You can’t get back six weeks of blindness,” said Jeremy Konyndyk, who oversaw the international response to Ebola during the Obama administration and is a senior policy fellow at the Center for Global Development. “To the extent that there’s someone to blame here, the blame is on poor, chaotic management from the White House and failure to acknowledge the big picture.”
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