More than 2,000 labs across the country will
start processing tests for COVID-19 early this week, Vice President Mike Pence
said during a press briefing late Sunday.
The move, the result of a partnership between
the federal government and commercial labs, means upwards of 1.9 million tests
will start flowing through the healthcare system this week.
The labs will prioritize healthcare workers,
first responders and at-risk seniors as they show signs of COVID-19, according
to HHS assistant secretary Dr. Brett Giroir.
"This is a real game changer for us,"
Giroir said.
The Trump administration had come under heavy
criticism because of the limited availability of tests and insufficient testing
capabilities.
But the U.S. Food and Drug Administration late
last week gave emergency approval to Roche and Thermo Fisher to begin producing new tests.
Expanding to 2,000 labs across the country will
not happen all at once. Labs have to adapt their machines and processes to the
newly approved tests, Giroir said, adding that the roll out will happen
throughout the week. As these labs come online, it will ease some of the burden
on such larger companies as LabCorp and Quest Diagnostics.
"To hospitals and labs—know there will be
pent-up demand," Ambassador Dr. Debbie Birx, the Trump administration's
coronavirus response coordinator, cautioned during Sunday's press briefing. She
urged them to make sure they have the appropriate level of supplies and
equipment on hand.
With higher volumes of testing, Americans should
also prepare to see a spike in the number of confirmed cases.
"There will be a spike in our curve,"
she said.
As of Sunday night, there were nearly 3,000
cases and 62 deaths in the U.S.
HHS Secretary Alex Azar said that the department
is working with hospitals to build up their surge capacity. Part of that, he
said, is taking a lesson learned from China and putting people who test
positive for the virus together in reserved spaces, which reduces the need to
build in extra protections of other patients.
The department is working to increase
availability of needed supplies, pointing out that recently approved emergency
funding will allow for a ramp up in production of masks and other equipment
domestically and abroad. Azar would not specify the amount of equipment that's
currently available or how much more the government will buy, citing nation
security reasons.
On the Sunday morning talk show circuit, Dr.
Anthony Fauci, director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious
Diseases said he'd like to see Americans cut down dramatically public
interactions in an effort to reduce the risk of spreading the disease.
Something he reinforced during later in the day at the press conference. He
hinted that more stringent guidelines may be coming on Monday.
"To protect the American people, we
consider everything and anything on the table," Fauci said, adding that he
didn't want to "jump ahead of the guidance" that the administration
plans to issue tomorrow.
The governors of Illinois and Ohio Sunday
announced that they were closing restaurants and bars to in-person service for
the next couple of weeks.
"We will be issuing an order closing all
bars and restaurants in #Ohio beginning at 9:00 tonight," Ohio Gov. Mike
DeWine tweeted. "What we can't have is people congregating and
seated."
Establishments will still be able to do carry
out and delivery.
Also spurred by the crisis, the Federal Reserve
on Sunday cut interest rates to near-zero and announced plans to buy government
and mortgage-backed debt.
"Makes me very happy. I want to
congratulate the Federal Reserve," President Donald Trump said.
Trump also said he spoke with leaders of several
major retailers, including Target, Kroger and Costco who assured him that they
would stay open and are ramping up their supply chain to fill empty shelves.
Trump, though, asked Americans to not horde
supplies.
No comments:
Post a Comment