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WASHINGTON: The United States set a one-day record with more than 1 million coronavirus diagnostic tests being performed, but the country needs 6 to 10 million a day to control outbreaks, according to several experts.
The country conducted 1,061,411 tests on Saturday (September 19), according to data from The COVID Tracking Project, an effort by volunteers to track the outbreak.
The record comes after tests have fallen for several weeks.
The United States tested an average of 650,000 people per day in the week ending Sept. 13, down from a late-July peak of more than 800,000 people per day.
Since the beginning of the pandemic, a paucity of evidence has hampered efforts to slow the spread of the virus.
At one point during the summer, Houstonians lined up for cars and waited hours for tests, even sleeping in their vehicles overnight. Miami saw similar lines.
Once tested, people may have to wait up to two weeks to find out if they have the virus, which has killed nearly 200,000 Americans and infected more than 6.7 million. Such delays defeat the purpose of trying to prevent further infections.
In March, President Donald Trump said that “anyone who wants a test gets a test.” That goal has yet to be achieved.
At the center of the crisis is the labs’ reliance on automated test equipment that prevents them from using proprietary chemical kits and other tools made by a handful of manufacturers.
The Food and Drug Administration has granted emergency use authorization for several saliva tests, which do not require swabs and use readily available reagents.
The United States has also authorized combined testing, a method that analyzes samples from multiple people at the same time and can expand testing capacity.
However, joint tests are only more efficient in areas with limited outbreaks. As of mid-September, 27 of the 50 states had positive test rates above 5 percent, according to a Reuters analysis, including South Dakota with 17 percent.
The World Health Organization considers positivity rates above 5 percent worrisome.
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