Jun 26, 2020
Forbes – As cases spike and outbreaks spiral out of control in several states, the Trump administration is considering pivoting to a new testing strategy — testing people in groups — in a ploy to speed up the process and make it more efficient, the Washington Post reports.
KEY FACTS
The strategy, known as “pool testing,” would allow officials to test more people with fewer resources and more quickly identify and isolate those who are infected.
Casting a wider net addresses two key problems with testing: many states have struggled to acquire the testing supplies they need to test in large numbers, and experts say the U.S. is still not testing enough to suppress the spread.
Dr. Anthony Fauci told the Washington Post in an interview on Thursday that health officials are having “intense discussions” about making the switch because “something’s not working.”
Fauci’s comments come days after CNN and Talking Points Memo reported the White House is planning to end funding for coronavirus testing sites (the White House had initially planned to end funding to the sites in April by “transitioning to state-managed sites,” but reversed the plan after receiving bipartisan pushback from Congress).
Trump elicited controversy earlier this week for claiming at a rally in Tulsa, Oklahoma, on Sunday that he instructed his people to “slow the testing down,” repeating a misleading claim that he and Vice President Mike Pence frequently deploy that testing increases are the cause of coronavirus case surges … Read more.
