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.”

Mullin vows ‘zero change’ on immigration after Republicans suffer crushing midterm losses

Twice-deported illegal immigrant accused of trying to storm United cockpit, threatening bomb: DHS

Democratic Congresswoman Threatens Military Members ‘Down the Chain’ from Pete Hegseth with Investigations

Anti-Israel agitators swarm Biden in Ireland and hurl object at motorcade

This Midterm Result Should Give You Hope: Voters Passed Wave of Conservative Policies Nov. 3, Even as They Crushed GOP

IRGC operative lands on FBI’s Most Wanted Terrorists list over alleged plot to kill former Trump advisor

Dem Robert Garcia Explains Rationale Behind Weaponizing Government: ‘Maybe It’s Because I’m Gay’

‘Forget 2028’: Senate GOP braces for a long stretch in the minority

New Michigan Mayor’s Swearing-In Shows How Far State Has Fallen

House GOP leaders block Massie’s Hegseth impeachment push

Ilhan Omar huddles with her DC-based lawyers during her first day back on Capitol Hill amid federal probes

Opposition to Schumer leading Senate grows amid calls for a ‘new generation’ from Democrats

Iran-backed terror suspects plotted attack on US troops using vans packed with fuel, DOJ says

Breaking: House Republicans Elect New Leader to Replace Mike Johnson

Jim Jordan picked as next House GOP leader: Sound off!

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.