Coronavirus Testing Expands to Thousands of Labs Across USA
Coronavirus (COVID-19) testing is now expanded to thousands of labs across the United States. After a brief delay, necessary to get the infrastructure into place, citizens can now get tested at a local nearby facility.
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.
Coronavirus Testing: Emergency Approval
The U.S. Food and Drug Administration late last week gave emergency approval to Roche and Thermo Fisher to begin producing new coronavirus test kits.
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. As these labs come online, it will ease the burden on such larger companies as LabCorp and Quest Diagnostics.
With higher volumes of testing, Americans should also prepare to see a spike in the number of confirmed cases.
HHS Secretary Alex Azar said that his department is working with hospitals to build up their surge capacity. Part of that, is putting people who test positive for corona into reserved spaces, which separates from the non-corona patients.
The department is also working to increase availability of needed supplies, such as masks and other equipment domestically and abroad.
In addition, Dr. Anthony Fauci, director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases said he wants to see Americans cut down on their public interactions. This will help reduce the risk of spreading the disease.
The governors of Illinois, Ohio, New York and New Jersey, on Sunday announced that they were closing restaurants and bars to in-person service for the next couple of weeks.
Establishments will still be able to do carry out and delivery.
President Trump also said he spoke with leaders of several major retailers, including Target, Kroger and Costco. They assured him that they would stay open and are ramping up their supply chain to fill empty shelves.
According to the President, he urged calmness and not to hoard supplies.