Lawmakers request clarity on nationwide COVID-19 testing efforts

A group of senators recently forwarded correspondence to Vice President Mike Pence, the Coronavirus Task Force, and the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) seeking COVID-19 testing clarity.

Sens. Dianne Feinstein (D-CA) and Tina Smith (D-MN) joined colleagues in calling for the initiation of a national inventory of the COVID-19 diagnostic testing supply, the public release of testing results data and a detailed plan and timeline for addressing future shortages and gaps in the testing supply chain.

“Over three weeks after President Trump declared the COVID-19 outbreak a national emergency, we continue to hear from our states and Tribal Nations about the lack of supplies and testing kits to diagnose our constituents for the coronavirus,” the senators wrote. “State departments of health, hospitals, health care providers and first responders lack the tests and equipment, including personal protective equipment (PPE), testing swabs, and reagents, needed to conduct adequate public health surveillance to contain and stop the spread of coronavirus.”

The lawmakers maintain widespread diagnostic testing is crucial to controlling the outbreak. Quickly obtaining test results for hospitalized patients allows hospitals to preserve supplies of PPE and prevents unnecessary quarantines of front-line health care workers and first responders.

“We urge you to promptly develop a national, real-time, public-facing inventory of COVID-19 diagnostic tests and results,” the senators wrote. “This resource will provide the transparency that our states and Tribal Nations need to anticipate the national testing supply chain and the information that the federal government needs to anticipate and proactively address any testing shortages.”