Thread by @Malinowski

Good news: Somerset and Hunterdon Counties are opening a drive-through COVID-19 testing site on April 16.

I worked closely with both counties to find the PPE, including N95 masks, needed to finally make this happen.
co.somerset.nj.us/Home/Component…

We urgently need more testing in this part of NJ. Somerset and Hunterdon Counties have registered over 2000 cases, even with limited testing. We know the true number is much higher. I know someone who died without having been tested (thus not even counting in the daily tally).

As one of my county sheriffs told me Friday, drive through sites ease pressure on our hospitals, since people have somewhere else to go to be tested. They allow more critical workers to rule out having the virus, and thus to stay on the job.

It makes no sense that a Plainfield resident could go to a drive through site in Union County, but a North Plainfield resident living a few blocks away had no such option. The whole state, and country, has a stake in fixing these disparities.

We also desperately need new methodology with faster results. A doc told me yesterday about a symptomatic mom who can't see her just delivered baby as she waits for her result. An elderly patient waits days in the hospital since her nursing home won't take her back w/o her test.

Finally: While I'm glad I was able to help in this case, it's ridiculous that members of Congress have to be working the phones day after day to scrounge up masks, gloves and gowns for our medical workers.

It's crazy that our municipal and county governments must compete with each other for life-saving supplies, and that we all have to figure out whether the latest guy offering PPE from China is a scam artist or for real.

We will not beat COVID-19 and we will not be able to resume normal economic life in America without widespread, rapid testing. That can only happen if the federal government finally takes responsibility to create a national supply chain.