Only 5,000 Americans Have Been Tested For The Coronavirus So Far

Despite vows to drastically expand coronavirus testing, federal and state public health authorities have tested only 4,987 people for the coronavirus as of Tuesday morning, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and numbers provided by all 50 states.

That count includes people tested by the federal government and by state laboratories. Because those laboratories may not always report people who tested negative for the coronavirus, the true number of people tested is probably somewhat higher.

That number stands in stark contrast to the promises made by leading members of the Trump administration’s coronavirus task force, who have variously asserted that 75,000 people would be tested by last week’s end and that laboratories across the United States would have the capacity to conduct 1.5 million tests by the beginning of this week.

Neither claim appears to yet be close to realized, angering some Washington lawmakers. “We are in a crisis, and there are questions about our preparedness and ongoing response efforts,” Rep. Rosa DeLauro, D-Conn., said on Tuesday morning. “I’m very concerned — and, I think, we all are — about our nation’s capabilities for coronavirus. Other countries have been testing thousands of people for weeks, but the U.S. is woefully behind the curve.”

Watch: Josh Hawley’s Simple Pregnancy Question Traps Dems’ Expert Witness So Thoroughly That She’s Reduced to a Repeating, Looping Mess… and She’s a Medical Doctor

Divine Judgement? Watch the Humiliating Moment Tim Walz Gets the ‘Tower of Babel’ Treatment as His Audio Goes Wild on National TV

Appeals judge seems skeptical of sentence for pro-Trump Colorado clerk Tina Peters

Obama wingman Eric Holder defended Walz’s vetting — then Minnesota’s fraud scandal erupted

Fox News Host Confronts Minneapolis Mayor to His Face on Dangerous ICE Rhetoric: ‘Here’s the Little Secret’

CDC urged by senators to combat ‘rapid rise’ in youth sports gambling

Cynthia Lummis endorses Hageman for Wyoming Senate seat

Trump’s Economy Just Took a Wrecking Ball to Biden’s ‘Mom Has to Work 3 Jobs’ Nightmare

Democrats request over $30 million for pro-LGBT United Nations agency in appropriations bill

Federal court clears California’s new House map boosting Democrats ahead of 2026 midterms

Protesters clash with federal officers after another ICE shooting in Minneapolis

Hochul endorses legislation to allow New Yorkers to sue ICE agents: ‘Power does not justify abuse’

Mamdani housing czar called ‘White, middle-class homeowners’ a ‘huge problem’ during 2021 podcast appearance

Parents erupt into massive brawl during Catholic youth basketball game in Staten Island

ICE agent shoots Venezuelan national in Minneapolis after shovel attack during ambush: DHS

The nation’s ability to test for the coronavirus was hampered early on because a test created by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention was found to have a contaminated reagent, meaning that one of its three markers — the one that would indicate a person was not infected — was not operational.

The CDC eventually corrected that error but also had to grapple with the fact that by keeping the coronavirus tests within its own purview, it was severely limiting the numbers who could be tested. It has since allowed private and university laboratories to conduct testing, while also vowing to stock public health labs with sufficient quantities of the coronavirus test.

Still, the lag is evident, robbing epidemiologists of precious days as they seek to contain the spread of the disease.

Private laboratories are expected to intensify their own testing efforts, but as of Monday morning, Mark S. Birenbaum, who heads the National Independent Laboratory Association, said he was uncertain of how many of his members had begun to test for the coronavirus.

“Many have not,” he wrote in a text message.

CDC spokesman Richard Quartarone said that as of Monday evening, the Atlanta-based public health agency had tested 1,707 people. On March 3, that number had been 1,200 people, which means the CDC has tested 507 people in the last week, or about 72 per day.