The state of testing: dismal |
| If you want a coronavirus test in the U.S., be prepared to wait days, even weeks, for the results. As the nation’s outbreak continues to rage, the demand for testing has overwhelmed labs and supply chains, leading to long delays that could be helping the virus spread. |
| In New York City, 20,000 to 35,000 people have been tested most weekdays recently — far below the target of 50,000 — but even that has strained local labs. Rapid-testing capacity hasn’t ramped up at the state and city levels, and case spikes in the West and the South have deluged national labs. |
| The delays have limited officials’ ability to quickly identify new cases and perform contact tracing. Quick turnaround times are considered critical for limiting transmission from people who do not show symptoms and may not isolate themselves until they know they have the virus. |
| But demand for lab capacity is only likely to increase as flu season approaches and universities that bring students to campus rely on plans to test them frequently. |
| Also contributing to the bottlenecks: strained or dwindling supplies of the machines, containers, chemicals and tools, like plastic pipette tips, used to move liquid between vials. |
| The surge, by percentage. President Trump has blamed the ballooning U.S. case count on increased testing, but the rise in infections far outpaces the higher volume of tests, a Times analysis found. Over nearly the last two months, the average number of tests has grown by 80 percent — to about 780,000 per day — while daily case counts shot up 215 percent. |
Alex
Koordynator projektu
0
