As coronavirus outbreaks continue to grow in various states, the US response is still hampered by a lack of evidence and an inability to direct resources to so-called hot spots, the former commissioner of the Monday said on Monday. Food and Drug Administration, Dr. Scott Gottlieb. .
Nationwide, the US has increased testing from an average of just over 174,000 diagnostic tests per day through April to an average of 666,081 tests per day so far in July, according to a CNBC analysis of compiled data by the Covid Monitoring Project. While testing has increased nationwide, Gottlieb said the demand for more testing has outstripped supply in affected states like Florida and Texas.
“We do not have a national plan. We do not have a national strategy. We do not have a national set of resources and capacity for change that we can move when we have these epidemics, so the states begin to be pressured very quickly,” he said in “Squawk Box. “from CNBC. “It’s a bigger problem than we thought it would be at the moment.”
Reporting capacity in states like Texas and Arizona is reportedly affected by the increased demand that occurs when parts of those states experience severe outbreaks. The general supply chain for diagnostic testing, which includes sample collection swabs, chemical reagents, and other materials, has been strained since the start of the pandemic.
While the supply chain has been strengthened since March through public investment, test makers like LabCorp and Quest have reported a delay in recent weeks. LabCorp said it delivers test results, on average, within a day or two from sample collection, but spokeswoman Kelly Smith Aceituno told CNBC last week that “average results may take 1-2 days. more “due to the recent increase in parts of the United States
“It is a bigger problem than we thought it would be right now,” Gottlieb said Monday. “There are delays of three to five days when you talk to the doctors on the ground. There are long lines, long waits to get tested, and therefore we do not yet have a national system where you can distribute these products nationwide.” .
The FDA has granted Becton Dickinson an emergency use authorization for a Covid-19 antigen point-of-care test that can produce results in 15 minutes, the company said Monday. The company said the test can be processed on the company’s existing platform, which is already installed in some 25,000 health centers across the country. Such testing will be crucial to scaling up testing, especially in the worst-hit states with expanding outbreaks and overwhelmed health systems, Gottlieb said.
“In terms of when we are going to have more supply in the market, we are going to see some important new product approvals, I think very soon there will be more point of care diagnostics,” said Gottlieb. he said before the Becton Dickinson announcement. “That will provide great capacity in the market, new systems that have control over their own end-to-end supply chain, so they will bring a tremendous amount of new capacity to the market.”
Rapid and widespread tests are crucial to detect new cases of coronavirus and allow local health officials to quickly identify the source of the infection and other people who may have been exposed. Since the start of the outbreak, public health officials and epidemiologists have called for the United States to invest significantly in test manufacturing and increasing testing infrastructure.
However, President Donald Trump previously said that “anyone who wants a test gets a test.” And last month, at a campaign rally in Tulsa, Oklahoma, Trump attributed the growing outbreaks across the country to increased testing, adding that he told officials to “delay testing, please.”
Public health specialists and epidemiologists have said the data does not indicate that the increase in cases is due to testing, because the number of new cases is outpacing the number of new tests performed. With restricted testing in areas with the largest outbreaks, Gottlieb said Monday the United States needs to invest more in testing and better focus on testing in the country.
“It still amazes me that when you have an epidemic in one state, you don’t have the ability to pool resources and focus them in that state,” he said. “Clearly that’s not happening. Clearly we don’t have that yet.”
– CNBC charts Nate Rattner
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