Coronavirus Surge Has Pushed Demand For Testing Well Beyond US Capacity
US Testing Capacity Is Down Because Trump Still Hasn’t Built National Strategy, Feds Deliberately Ramping Down & Withholding Billions
Trump Failures Leading to Supply Shortages, Increased Risk For Rural & Minority Communities
Despite record-breaking coronavirus surges, President Trump is continuing to push forward with reopening while refusing to increase testing to levels that would sufficiently enable the country to manage its outbreak. Instead of investing in the testing necessary to help communities safely reopen, Trump is doubling down on the lie that cases would decrease if the country did less testing and withholding federal testing support to cities in crisis.
As a result of Trump’s actions, the virus has spread further each day, leading demand for testing to soar past capacity. This has left cities without a choice but to once again restrict access to tests and shift resources away from already vulnerable rural communities, compounding disparities that already put Black Americans at a disproportionately high risk for COVID-19.
Here’s a look at how Trump is setting testing back and its deadly consequences:
Coronavirus Surges Have Caused The Demand For Testing To Soar Past Capacity
- Politico: “Big Jumps In Testing Capacity Have Been Effectively Erased By Record-Breaking Increases In New Infections As States Reopen Their Economies.” “The nation has conducted more than 4 million tests in the past week, more than ever before. But big jumps in testing capacity have been effectively erased by record-breaking increases in new infections as states reopen their economies. The supply chain problems that hampered testing early on never entirely went away and still threaten the ability of labs to conduct testing for everyone asking.” [Politico, 7/5/20]
- New York Times: “As Cases Have Surged In Many States, The Demand For Testing Has Soared, Surpassing Capacity And Creating A New Testing Crisis.” “In the early months of the nation’s outbreak, testing posed a significant problem, as supplies fell far short and officials raced to understand how to best handle the virus. Since then, the United States has vastly ramped up its testing capability, conducting nearly 15 million tests in June, about three times as many as it had in April. But in recent weeks, as cases have surged in many states, the demand for testing has soared, surpassing capacity and creating a new testing crisis.” [New York Times, 7/6/20]
Here Are Four Ways The Trump Administration’s Made The Testing Crisis Worse
1. FEMA Says It’s “Getting Out Of The Testing Business” When It Should Be Ramping Up.
- In June, The Trump Administration Announced Plans To Close 13 Federally Run Coronavirus Testing Sites In Five States, The Last Of The Federally Operated Testing Sites. “The Trump administration is defending plans to close 13 federally run coronavirus testing sites in five states at the end of the month. The testing sites are located in Colorado, Pennsylvania, Illinois, New Jersey and Texas. They are the last of 41 federally operated testing sites. Federal officials say the sites have been closing or transferring to state or local control because it’s more efficient to run testing that way. In other instances they argue there are readily available testing sites nearby. The move comes as President Trump has repeatedly blamed the rise in coronavirus cases on the expansion of testing, despite evidence that the virus is spreading rapidly in many parts of the country and leading to increased hospitalizations.” [NPR, 6/24/20]
- Phoenix Mayor Kate Gallego Has Been Trying To Secure More Testing Resources For Phoenix From FEMA And The Private Sector Since April, But Testing Remains Woefully Inadequate. “In an interview later in the day, Ms. Gallego, a Democrat, said she had been trying since April to get more testing resources for Phoenix, both from FEMA and from the private sector. But testing, she says, remains woefully inadequate, especially for those who lack health insurance. ‘We are the largest city not to have received this type of investment,’ Ms. Gallego said, noting that FEMA had set up testing sites in Houston, Los Angeles and elsewhere. ‘And you can see it in the increasing rate of positives.’” [New York Times, 7/5/20]
- FEMA Responded To Phoenix Mayor Kate Gellago’s Request For Testing Resources By Saying The Agency Was “Getting Out Of The Testing Business.” “An aide to the mayor said that FEMA had responded to the city’s most recent request by saying the agency was ‘getting out of the testing business.’ Maricopa County officials were told the same thing when they asked FEMA for help, the mayor said.” [New York Times, 7/5/20]
2. States Are Still Fending For Themselves Thanks To The Lack Of A National Testing Strategy
- HHS’ May Testing Plan Called For The Federal Government To Acquire Far Too Few Testing Supplies, Leaving States To Have To Fend For Themselves Against Other Countries. “To ensure that States have the collection supplies that they need through December 2020, the Federal government plans to acquire 100 million swabs and 100 million tubes of viral transport media, and distribute these supplies to States as requested to meet their individual State plans. This large-scale acquisition reflects a significant expansion of current capacity and is a result of the broadening of available swab and media types authorized by the FDA and use of Title III of the Defense Production Act (DPA) to increase production of swabs.” [HHS, COVID-19 Strategic Testing Plan, 5/24/20]
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- Johns Hopkins University Epidemiologist Jennifer Nuzzo Said Of The Trump Administration’s Supposed Testing Plan: “States Should Not Have To Negotiate With Foreign Countries For Testing Supplies.” “States are making progress in expanding testing & decreasing their positivity. But they need help. We will not control the virus and restore the US economy until all states have the tools they need. States should not have to negotiate with foreign countries for testing supplies.” [Twitter, Dr. Jennifer Nuzzo, 5/26/20]
- Harvard Assistant Professor Of Epidemiology Dr. Michael Mina Emphasized That The United States’ Testing System Was “Too Fragmented.” “But even as Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo announced last week that anyone in New York State who wanted a test could get one, officials in other states have been left seeking a more robust testing system, and setting new limits on who can take one. ‘We are too fragmented,’ said Dr. Michael Mina, an assistant professor of epidemiology at Harvard’s T.H. Chan School of Public Health. ‘We don’t have a good way to load-balance the system.’” [New York Times, 7/6/20]
- Without A National Testing Program, Cities Like Austin Have Had To Fend For Themselves In The Private Market. “Local officials in Austin had not relied on the state when it came to testing for the most part, the mayor said. And without a national testing program, he said, city and county officials had to fend for themselves in the private market. ‘Maybe in retrospect if we had thought about this a half-year ago, we would have set up our own testing capacity,’ Mr. Adler said. ‘I don’t know what else we’d do. We were out competing for tests. We were blocking up as many tests as we could block up on the market.’” [New York Times, 7/6/20]
- North Carolina Health And Human Services Secretary Dr. Mandy Cohen: “We Need Federal Assistance. We Need Assistance With The Supply Chain.” “North Carolina Health and Human Services Secretary Dr. Mandy Cohen said a shortage of the chemical reagent used in labs to conduct COVID-19 diagnostic tests has increased the wait time to get results. Cohen said sometimes it’s taking five to six days for those results to come back. Previously, it was common to get results in 24-48 hours. ‘That’s not good. We need to really close that gap, and that’s one thing that North Carolina, we can’t solve that problem from the state level. We need federal assistance. We need assistance with the supply chain,’ she said.” [WNCN, 7/3/20]
3. The Trump Administration Has Withheld Billions in Funding For Coronavirus Testing And Contact Tracing.
- The Trump Administration Has Withheld $14 Billion In Funding For Coronavirus Testing And Contact Tracing. “The Trump administration has been sitting on nearly $14 billion in funding that Congress passed for coronavirus testing and contact tracing, according to Democratic Sens. Chuck Schumer of New York and Patty Murray of Washington. The top Democrats said in a letter Sunday to Health and Human Services Secretary Alex Azar that the Trump administration has ‘still failed’ to distribute more than $8 billion out of $25 billion appropriated by Congress to expand testing and contact tracing. The letter indicated that Congress passed these funds as part of a coronavirus relief bill in April.” [NBC News, 6/21/20]
4. Trump Has Refused To Use The Full Power Of The Defense Production Act To Increase Testing Capacity, Even As Lawmakers From Both Sides Of The Aisle Have Asked Him To Do So.
- For Weeks, The Trump Administration Delayed Invoking The Defense Production Act To Increase The Production Of Medical Supplies Necessary To Increase Testing And Even Then Only Increased Production Of Swabs. “President Donald Trump will use the Defense Production Act to compel an unnamed company to produce 20 million more coronavirus testing swabs every month — weeks after labs and public health officials started warning that shortages of these swabs were hurting efforts to ramp up testing nationwide… Asked why his administration waited for weeks to use the Defense Production Act on swabs, Trump alternately claimed that states have ‘millions coming in’ already, that states can procure them on their own, and that governors ‘don’t know quite where they are’ and need the federal government’s help.” [Politico, 4/19/20]
- May 6, 2020: Nine Democratic Senators Wrote Trump Urging Him To Invoke Title III Of The Defense Production Act To Ramp Up Production Of Supplies Needed For Testing. “Nine prominent senators — all in the Democratic caucus — have penned a letter to President Donald Trump urging him to use wartime authorities to increase the amount of protective personal equipment (PPE) and testing supplies needed to confront the coronavirus. Led by Sen. Chris Van Hollen (D-MD) and joined by Sens. Angus King (I-ME), Gary Peters (D-MI), Kamala Harris (D-CA), Mazie Hirono (D-HI), Patrick Leahy (D-VT), Debbie Stabenow (D-MI), Mark Warner (D-VA), and Jack Reed (D-RI), the letter details how states have struggled to get what they need for their outbreak response.” [Vox, 5/6/20]
- June 28, 2020: Arkansas Governor Asa Hutchinson Called On Trump To Use The Defense Production Act To Increase Testing Capacity. “’We’ve doubled the amount of our testing nationally. We’ve got to double it again. That is probably the most important thing that we can do,’ Arkansas Gov. Asa Hutchinson said on ABC’s ‘This Week’ Sunday. ‘I really think we need to look at a greater use of the Defense Production Act so that we can make sure that supply keeps up with the demand that we know is going to continue growing.’… ‘The president’s done a very, very good job of utilizing the Defense Production Act when it comes to energy production and ventilators, making sure that we have that capacity,’ Hutchinson said. ‘We need to continue to use that in the areas of the supplies for testing. Demand is only going to increase.’” [ABC News, 6/28/20]
The Trump Administration’s Testing Failures Are Having Dire Consequences — Supply Shortages Have Forced Localities To Restrict Who Can Get Tested
- As Testing Shortages Have Plagued Texas, Cities Like San Antonio And Austin Have Reverted To Testing Only Those Who Are Showing Symptoms. “Testing delays and shortages have increasingly become a problem in Texas, where cases are surging. Cities like San Antonio and Austin have reverted to testing only those who are showing symptoms as a way to manage the demand and a backlog of tests. ‘We’re now focused on the highest priorities,’ Mayor Steve Adler of Austin said on Monday… The demand has grown too great, they say, so only people showing symptoms may now be tested — a return to restrictions that were in place in many parts of the country during earlier days of the virus.” [New York Times, 7/6/20]
- An Overwhelmed Testing System Led Idaho To Inform Nursing Homes And Long-Term Care Facilities That The State Could No Longer Meet Their Testing Needs. “In Idaho, where cases were also climbing, the state lab was so inundated that state officials sent a memo to nursing homes and long-term care facilities, saying the state could no longer meet all their testing needs. That has left the facilities in a crisis, desperate to find other labs to process tests for a particularly vulnerable population.” [New York Times, 7/6/20]
- In Phoenix, Arizona, Residents Had To Wait In Cars For As Long As Eight Hours To Get Tested. “In Phoenix, where temperatures have topped 100 degrees, residents have waited in cars for as long as eight hours to get tested.” [New York Times, 7/6/20]
- Supply Chain Issues Have Forced New Orleans Officials To Reduce The Tests They Carry Out And Turn Away People Who Want To Get Tested. “The supply chain issues have led officials in New Orleans to reduce the tests they carry out: At one site on Monday, officials handed out just 150 tickets for testing, which were gone in minutes. ‘We are telling everyone to do all the things you are supposed to do, and if they have any concerns about exposure or close contact or are feeling sick, there will be a test for you,’ Dr. Avegno said. ‘And yet we’re starting to have to turn them away,’ she said. ‘That is not what we want to do.’” [New York Times, 7/6/20]
- Shortages Have Also Drained Resources In Regions That Are Not Among The Hardest Hit — In Omaha, Supplies Fell Short Because They Were Needed In Communities With Larger Outbreaks Than Nebraska. “The urgent demand for tests also was affecting regions outside of those hardest hit. In Omaha, a drive-through testing site in the parking lot of a former grocery store abruptly closed on Saturday. Lab supplies fell short in the city, partly because they were needed in communities with bigger outbreaks than in Nebraska, where cases are prevalent but remain steady.” [New York Times, 7/6/20]
Trump’s Refusal To Increase Testing Has Exacerbated Existing Racial Disparities And Puts Black Americans At Risk
- More Than 20 Million People In The U.S. Live In Coronavirus Testing Deserts, And People Of Color Are Disproportionately Represented In Counties Without Testing Sites. “More than 20 million people in the United States live in coronavirus ‘testing deserts’ — and people of color are disproportionately represented in those counties without testing sites, the Surgo Foundation reported this week.” [New York Times, 7/6/20]
- Surgo Foundation Executive Director Dr. Sema Sgaier: “If You’re A Black Person Living In Rural America, You’re Nearly Three Times As Likely To Be Living In A Testing Desert Where Deaths Are Rising, Compared To Any Average Rural American.” “‘If you’re a Black person living in rural America, you’re nearly three times as likely to be living in a testing desert where deaths are rising, compared to any average rural American,’ added Sgaier. ‘We simply can’t afford to ignore rural communities in our fight against both coronavirus and its racial inequities.’” [Surgo Foundation, 6/22/20]
- 35 Percent Of Black People Living In Rural Areas Lives In A Highly Vulnerable Testing Desert. “Drilling deeper, 1.27 million rural Black Americans (35% of the rural black population) live in highly vulnerable testing deserts. Compared to the average rural American, Black Americans are 1.7 times more likely to live in these areas. And rural Black Americans are 2.7 times as likely to be living in a vulnerable area with a lack of testing sites and increasing deaths, compared to the average rural American.” [Surgo Foundation, 6/22/20]