Giroir, who allowed test response times to improve, said states had not claimed all of the money allocated to build test and trace networks deemed critical to calm the pandemic.
As part of its aggressive new strategy, the administration also sought Sunday to take advantage of a fourth-phase pandemic stimulus plan to incentivize people to return to work, even as the virus records daily records of new infections.
The measure would reduce the federal benefit for many workers, but many Republicans argue that such payments act as a disincentive to return to work. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi said Sunday that she would prefer to keep the benefit, which officially expires at the end of the week, the same. Discord on Capitol Hill, and between the Republican Party and the White House that has delayed the package, is raising fears that the laid-off workers may be left in the lurch and with only little state unemployment benefits.
Giroir hits on the evidence complaints
“Let me assure you that we are not going to stop our efforts until the tests are exactly where we want them to be, with fast response times,” Giroir told Tapper while bragging about 54 million tests performed. That figure is less impressive during the five-month period of the crisis, and given that health experts say it may take several million tests a day to control it.
“We are not going to have 300 million tests per day,” he said, despite the fact that no expert has suggested that such a volume would be possible or necessary. He also said that half of the tests, those processed in large commercial laboratories, returned in an average of 4.27 days, a figure that promised to improve this week.
But Giroir also cautioned that states had used just $ 50 million of the $ 10.25 billion allocated to them to hire contact trackers. “There is money there for them to do,” he insisted. “We are providing technical assistance. The money is there. The state plans have to meet the requirements.”
Health and Human Services Secretary Alex Azar said states had not used $ 11 billion in allocated funding for next-generation diagnostics.
“We are meeting all of their needs for supplies, for testing,” Azar said on CBS’s “Face the Nation.” “But at the end of the day, our governors must take that initiative and get their public health labs up and running, even as we improve testing through, for example, our commercial labs.”
While the blame is spread across Washington, some doctors overwhelmed by a wave of illness and death say they simply don’t have the evidence capacity they need to counter the pandemic.
“We are living it here right now,” said Dr. Pritesh Gandhi, a primary care physician and pediatrician in Austin, Texas, one of the most popular viral hotspots.
“We have test results that take 12, 13 and up to 14 days to return,” Gandhi said on CNN on Saturday, warning that the lack of sufficient tests and a reason for profit made it impossible to reinforce the diagnoses to stop the spread of symptoms. The pandemic.
“We cannot scale basic community testing, particularly in communities of color, especially where essential workers work … The government should intervene,” said Gandhi.
A cut in benefits, but a $ 1,200 check
Kudlow said the improvement in unemployment was intended to keep people at home during the blockades, but was now hurting hopes for an economic recovery.
“We have had an avalanche of inquiries and phone calls and complaints that small shops, businesses and restaurants cannot hire people.” Kudlow said.
But his comments, and an extremely optimistic view of a crisis that kills 1,000 Americans a day, increase the possibility that the administration is trying to force people to return before it is safe.
“There are more states that are reopening and they are working very well. There are some key states, yes. California, Texas and Florida, at the moment, are having difficulties in the critical points. But it is not as if it was last winter”, Kudlow said.
When Tapper noted that many workers were unsure about returning to work due to the increase in the virus, Kudlow emulated colleagues and blamed states for not doing enough.
“It is a more optimistic picture than the one you are painting. And I think we have made great strides. I mean, the federal government does not control this. We are hopefully leaders in encouraging people to be safe and to accept our guidelines. States are in charge of this. Each state has a different history. “
Kudlow’s comment on the guidelines is undermined by Trump’s disregard for state opening suggestions written by the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, the President’s push for all schools they reopen, even as the situation worsens and their refusal until last week to endorse the use of masks.
Meanwhile, New York Democratic Governor Andrew Cuomo blamed states now facing the same type of coronavirus crisis as the New Yorkers he faced earlier this year for paying attention to conservative media comments. that support Trump’s position on the aggressive reopening of the economy.
“Florida listened to the New York Post, Texas listened to the Wall Street Journal, Arizona listened to the Wall Street Journal and the New York Post, that was wrong, that was wrong,” Cuomo told reporters.
“We have a phase-modulated reopening, and that’s correct.”
CNN’s Phil Mattingly and Manu Raju contributed to this story.
.
