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CURL: The Main Question Now Is — Where Are The Tests?

   DailyWire.com
DALLAS, TX - SEPTEMBER 14: Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump speaks during a campaign rally at the American Airlines Center on September 14, 2015 in Dallas, Texas. More than 20,000 tickets have been distributed for the event. (Photo by
Tom Pennington/Getty Images

To hear the Trump administration tell it, tests for the coronavirus are everywhere and everyone can get them.

“We’ve done more testing than any country anywhere in the world,” President Trump said on Friday. “We have now completed more than 3.5 million tests — by far the most anywhere in the world.”

But then Trump got to the numbers. “We have now distributed over 600,000 Abbott ID NOW point-of-care diagnostic tests,” which take just five minutes to work (previous tests were invasive and took up to a week for results to come in). “We have seen a dramatic increase in the number of tests performed by hospitals and academic institutions, with more than 120,000 tests recently reported in a single day.”

Here’s the problem: There are 328 million people in America.

Dr. Deborah Birx, who serves as the Coronavirus Response Coordinator for the Trump Administration’s White House Coronavirus Task Force, says excess testing capacity of 1 million tests per week is available.

At that rate, it would take more than six years to test every American.

More numbers: In New York, they’re testing about 28 people per 1,000 — and that’s the state with the highest rate. In places like Virginia, where I live, they’re testing fewer than six people out of 1,000. And there are now 706,830 confirmed cases in the U.S., according to the Johns Hopkins Center for Systems Science and Engineering. That means just 0.21% of Americans have been tested.

But testing is now the key to reopening the U.S. economy. Once people know they’ve had it, they’ll know they’re now immune (for a year or two, at least, doctors say) and can return to work.

“Anybody who wants a test can get a test,” Trump said more than a month ago. But have you tried to find a test?

I have. I called my doctor’s office. “Hey, are you guys doing testing for the coronavirus?” They told me to call my local hospital. When I did that, they told me to call my health care provider. When I did that, they told me to check  the website for the Centers for Disease Control (CDC).

So I did that. First, the closest testing center is 25 miles from my house. And second, the website for the testing center said this: “Call your doctor for their procedures on testing after a clinical assessment.” The center said it “evaluates all patients and ensures necessary testing is conducted while preserving the capability to continue sustained testing.” That makes sense: Test the sickest first. But it also means that many people are simply turned away without a test.

How do I know that? Here’s another story.

My wife, who had been sick for more than a week (most likely with COVID-19, which I’m pretty sure she caught from me), recently passed out. Luckily, she was able to sit down first when she felt light-headed. We called 911. They came and assessed her, then said they thought she should go to the hospital, which she did. Once there, they ran a few tests and decided that she’d had an episode of vasovagal syncope (Google that, very interesting).

We couldn’t go into the hospital to see her, but she was quickly discharged. And on the way home, I asked if she’d had a test for COVID-19 (she had every single symptom). “I asked for one and they said no,” my wife said. They did, however, test her for the flu. (She’s much better now, thank you for asking.)

“Anybody who wants a test can get a test”? Not at all.

The Associated Press said this in an article Friday: “’There are places that have enough test swabs, but not enough workers to administer them. There are places that are limiting tests because of the CDC criteria on who should get tested,’ said Dr. Megan Ranney, an emergency physician and associate professor at Brown University. ‘There’s just so many inefficiencies and problems with the way that testing currently happens across this country.’”

Trump is now shoving the responsibility off to the states. “The governors are responsible for testing,” Trump said at his daily briefing Friday, adding that the federal government would ship 5.5 million nasal swabs to states in the “next few weeks” to help address shortages.

“Swabs can be done easily by the governors themselves,” Trump said. “Mostly it’s cotton, it’s not a big deal.”

So there you go: Check with your governor if you want a swab.

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