According to a new analysis, only 17 states and Washington DC are meeting minimum targets to conduct sufficient coronavirus testing.
The Harvard Global Health Institute, in collaboration with NPR, finds that 14 states and Washington, DC are doing enough testing to mitigate the spread of the virus, meaning that it will not be eliminated but will not spread out of control. Three other states are reaching a higher threshold of conducting enough tests to suppress the virus and prevent almost any new case.
But that means 32 states are failing to meet any of the targets, underscoring how far the country has to go to increase testing, even if it has made progress.
Currently, the United States is conducting around 500,000 tests per day, a significant improvement from the start of the outbreak. But the Harvard estimate states that given how big the current outbreak is, the country needs around 1 million tests per day to mitigate the spread of the virus, and around 4 million tests per day to go even further and suppress the virus.
The 14 states along with Washington, DC that do enough testing to mitigate the spread of the virus, according to the analysis, are: Connecticut, Delaware, Idaho, Illinois, Indiana, Maine, Massachusetts, Montana, New Hampshire, New Jersey, New York, Oklahoma, West Virginia and Wyoming.
The three states that meet the highest goal of the suppression level tests are Vermont, Hawaii, and Alaska, with West Virginia, Montana, and New Jersey close by, according to the analysis.
In particular, the analysis finds that states with the worst outbreaks now, such as Arizona and Florida, are far from the necessary tests.
“The waves we are seeing in much of the country are due in part to those states opening up too quickly and relaxing too much given the amount of virus they had in their community, and they lacked proof,” Ashish Jha, director of the Harvard Global Health Institute told NPR. “These two things really go hand in hand.”
Arkansas Governor Asa Hutchinson (R) called President Trump
Donald John Trump Top intelligence officials issue statements criticizing the leak of information about Russian rewards. Information on Russian rewards was included in Trump’s daily briefing: Reports that Senators will have access to intelligence about Russian rewards on US troops MORE more fully use its powers under the Defense Production Act to order increased test supplies manufacturing, speaking on ABC “This Week” Sunday.
“I really think we should consider further use of the Defense Production Act to make sure that supply keeps pace with demand that we know will continue to grow,” said Hutchinson.
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