• About Us
  • Who Are We
  • Work With Us
Thursday, December 7, 2023
No Result
View All Result
NEWSLETTER
The Globe Post
39 °f
New York
44 ° Fri
46 ° Sat
40 ° Sun
41 ° Mon
No Result
View All Result
The Globe Post
No Result
View All Result
Home National

Flawed Coronavirus Test Strategy Contributed to US Spread: Experts

Staff Writer by Staff Writer
03/10/20
in National
US President Donald Trump speaks on his administration's response to the coronavirus.

US President Donald Trump speaks on his administration's response to the coronavirus. Photo: AFP

Share on FacebookShare on Twitter

Faulty test kits for the novel coronavirus coupled with a diagnostic strategy that initially targeted too few people allowed the disease to spread beyond U.S. authorities’ ability to detect it, health experts have said.

Writing in the Journal of the American Medical Association (JAMA) on Monday, epidemiologists from Johns Hopkins University and Stanford University said the failings had contributed to the virus taking root in communities across the country.

More than 800 cases and 28 deaths have been detected in the U.S., according to a Johns Hopkins University tracker.

As of Sunday, 1,707 Americans had been tested, according to Business Insider, citing data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).

South Korea, which announced its first case on the same day as the US, had tested more than 189,000 people, the publication added.

The authors of the JAMA report wrote that the only test initially authorized was one developed by the CDC.

It relied on the same technology as one authorized by the World Health Organization (WHO) and deployed around the world – except that a fault meant the CDC kit was returning inconclusive results.

There’s no way this is entirely by accident. This is what happens when the President creates a culture of misinformation, where telling him bad news can get you fired. pic.twitter.com/3Y7oyd3JQ6

— Chris Murphy (@ChrisMurphyCT) March 10, 2020

It was not until February 29, the date of the first US death and more than a month after the first confirmed US case, that the Food and Drug Administration lifted a ban on state laboratories developing their own kits based on the WHO’s tests.

‘Don’t Overcorrect’ 

The CDC announced Monday it has testing capacity in 78 state and local public health labs, with 75,000 kits available nationwide and more by mid-March.

“When people need a test, they can get a test. When the professionals need to test more people they can get the tests,” President Donald Trump told a White House news conference.

His administration had initially promised to have one million kits in place by the end of last week.

“Adopting broader testing criteria and allowing use of a wider range of tests would have been helpful in identifying the first U.S. cases and containing the spread,” said Michelle Mello of Stanford, a co-author of the report.

“Manufacturing problems like the one that arose with CDC’s test are always a risk, but the fact that CDC put all its eggs in that one basket made the manufacturing snafu highly consequential,” she wrote on her university’s blog page.

The CDC was initially only testing people with known exposure, meaning a Californian patient on a ventilator was denied the test for five days, the patient’s doctors said. The criteria were changed as a result of this case.

Mello also pointed to several inaccuracies in White House communications on the epidemic – from declaring that containment efforts were “close to airtight” to claiming a vaccine could be ready within three to four months.

“The public messaging from Washington about the seriousness of the problem has been neither consistent nor accurate, and I worry it may have led Americans to take fewer steps to prevent community transmission than we should have,” she said.

The authors argued against overcorrection, however, saying that health services would be quickly overwhelmed if everyone with a cough or fever – or exposure to sick patients – demanded a test.


More on the Subject 

UN Appeals for Funds to Shield Refugees from Coronavirus

ShareTweet
Staff Writer

Staff Writer

AFP with The Globe Post

Related Posts

Pro-Trump protester in front of Capitol Hill.
Opinion

The Ominous (and Irresponsible) Chatter of a Civil War 

by Stephen J. Lyons
September 4, 2023
President Donald Trump in the Brady Briefing Room of the White House.
Opinion

Boxing Day Comes to South Florida

by Stephen J. Lyons
July 5, 2023
‘Deaths of Despair:’ Why Are US Suicides on the Rise?
Opinion

An Inspired Choice to Lead the CDC

by Edward C. Halperin
June 13, 2023
A noose is seen on makeshift gallows as supporters of US President Donald Trump gather on the West side of the US Capitol in Washington DC on January 6, 2021
National

Militia Leader Gets 18 Years in Prison Over US Capitol Attack

by Staff Writer
May 26, 2023
A woman undergoing COVID test in China
Featured

Soaring Covid Cases Shine Light on China’s Healthcare Gap

by Staff Writer
January 11, 2023
Donald Trump
National

US Supreme Court Freezes Release of Trump Tax Returns

by Staff Writer
November 1, 2022
Next Post
American soldier in Afghanistan.

UN Sec. Council Approves US-Taliban Deal as Afghan Gov. Agrees to Release POWs

Relatives of Mohammad Mudasir, 31, who died in the recent sectarian riots, mourn during his funeral in New Delhi

India Is a Secular Nation, So Why Aren't Muslims Being Protected?

Recommended

A giant crawler machine used to dredge the seabed for diamonds

Norway to Allow Deep-Sea Mining

December 5, 2023
Dutch politician Geert Wilders

Xenophobia in the Netherlands? Unpacking the PVV’s Surprising Success

November 28, 2023
Ukraine war

NATO Chief Says ‘No Alternative’ to Helping Ukraine Stop Putin

November 27, 2023
Migrants stranded at the Finland border

Russia Warns of a ‘Crisis’ at Arctic Border With Finland

November 22, 2023
People march against climate change in Bordeaux, southwestern France, on October 13, 2018.

Earth to Warm Up to 2.9C Even With Current Climate Pledges: UN

November 20, 2023
A woman in Singapore checks her mobile

Singapore and Indonesia Launch Cross-Border QR-Code Payments

November 17, 2023

Opinion

Dutch politician Geert Wilders

Xenophobia in the Netherlands? Unpacking the PVV’s Surprising Success

November 28, 2023
Afghan refugees

The Blessed and Cursed Randomness of Our Lives

October 25, 2023
Joe Biden

The ‘Polycrisis’ Challenge: Biden’s Vision for Global Problem-Solving

September 26, 2023
Pro-Trump protester in front of Capitol Hill.

The Ominous (and Irresponsible) Chatter of a Civil War 

September 4, 2023
A bamboo-based design raises family homes safely above water levels to cope with raising water levels in Bangladesh.

The West Owes Climate Refugees Reparations Now

August 14, 2023
President Donald Trump in the Brady Briefing Room of the White House.

Boxing Day Comes to South Florida

July 5, 2023
Facebook Twitter

Newsletter

Do you like our reporting?
SUBSCRIBE

About Us

The Globe Post

The Globe Post is part of Globe Post Media, a U.S. digital news organization that is publishing the world's best targeted news sites.

submit oped

© 2018 The Globe Post

No Result
View All Result
  • National
  • World
  • Business
  • Interviews
  • Lifestyle
  • Democracy at Risk
    • Media Freedom
  • Opinion
    • Editorials
    • Columns
    • Book Reviews
    • Stage
  • Submit Op-ed

© 2018 The Globe Post