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.”

Mamdani’s response to Trump’s Iran strike sparks conservative backlash: ‘Rooting for the ayatollah’

Iran vows ‘decisive’ self-defense at UN after Trump kills supreme leader in Operation Epic Fury

Concerns rise over DHS shutdown in shadow of Iran strikes: ‘Now would be a good time’ to end it

Jeb Bush commends former rival Trump’s Iran operation: ‘This is their time to take their country back’

Man confesses to killing 7-year-old while on the lam after DNA links him to 30-year cold case: authorities

Obama official who backed Iran deal sparks online outrage with reaction to Trump’s strike: ‘Sit this one out’

Bill Clinton’s credibility threatened by decades of scandals amid grilling over Epstein ties

Trump says Khamenei is dead: ‘The single greatest chance for the Iranian people to take back their Country’

Monitoring the situation: White House releases photos of Trump, Rubio and team being briefed on Iran operation

Iran Supreme Leader Targeted, Believed Killed, in Sweeping US-Israeli Strikes

The US and Israel attacked Iran: What we know

Trump finds unlikely Democratic allies on decision to strike Iran

Democrats buck party leaders to defend Trump’s ‘decisive action’ on Iran

Nancy Guthrie missing: Forensic scientist encourages new investigative approach since case ‘isn’t cold yet’

FBI raises counterterror teams to high alert amid Iran tensions

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.