Spent some time this week surveying Connecticut's current COVID testing system.
It's made it clear to me how disastrous Trump's refusal to build a national testing plan has been - even in a state like CT that has done COVID response right.
1/ A short THREAD on where we are:
It's made it clear to me how disastrous Trump's refusal to build a national testing plan has been - even in a state like CT that has done COVID response right.
1/ A short THREAD on where we are:
2/ Current turnaround time at New Britain's community health center drive through testing program is 3 days.
3 days is NOT GOOD. That's 3 days for a unknowing positive person to spread.
3 days is NOT GOOD. That's 3 days for a unknowing positive person to spread.
3/ Trump has refused to build the additional lab capacity nationally to reduce these wait times. Connecticut can't do it - the testing industry is national. Only HHS and partner federal agencies can expand this capacity, but they simply refuse. Outrageous.
4/ CT schools are about to reopen, but there is no way to do broad, population based testing.
So when an outbreak at a school happens, we likely won't find out until it's too late (especially since the kids are likely to be asymptomatic).
So when an outbreak at a school happens, we likely won't find out until it's too late (especially since the kids are likely to be asymptomatic).
5/ Again, CT doesn't have the ability to build a population based testing program (different from individual tests in that they need to be cheaper but also don't have to be as accurate). Only the federal government - NIH, CDC, HHS - can create this. And they just haven't done it.
6/ Lastly, what makes this more maddening is that right here in CT, we are developing the ability to do population based testing. Yale's Saliva Direct test (I was there this week) is a breakthrough that could provide a cheap, easy option with no supply chain issues. But again...
7/ the Trump Administration (here, mostly the FDA) feigns impotence. They tell Yale to go find partners themselves instead of showing leadership and taking charge to build the kind of scale that would bring down the cost of the test.
8/ Yale can't do this themselves. They need the feds - but again, the feds are largely AWOL, and a great technology may end up helping thousands rather than millions.
Over and over, Trump refuses to create a national testing strategy, and the virus is the only winner.
Over and over, Trump refuses to create a national testing strategy, and the virus is the only winner.
