White House: $11B on its way to states for COVID-19 testing

The Trump administration said Monday it is distributing $11 billion for states to ramp up coronavirus testing “at a dramatic scale” and vowed to meet governors’ demands for the supplies they need to collect specimens.

President Trump outlined the plan in lofty terms from the White House Rose Garden, characterizing it as the largest manufacturing ramp-up since World War II in front of a huge banner that read: “America leads the world in testing.”

“And it’s not even close,” the president said.

He said the U.S. will have performed a world-leading 10 million tests before the end of the week. His administration wants states to test all staff and residents at nursing homes and workers at the meat-processing plants that Mr. Trump ordered to remain open.

Mr. Trump said there are now 240 testing sites at retail locations across the country and there will be over 300 by the end of the week. He said many of them will be in poorer and under-served communities.

Congress approved the money for state testing in a coronavirus relief package known as the CARES Act.

The country is now “in a place where everyone has what they need,” a senior administration official said, pledging to send enough swabs and other supplies to meet each state’s testing quota in May.

“My administration marshaled every resource at our nation’s disposal — public, private, military, economic, scientific and industrial, all at your disposal,” he said.

The Food and Drug Administration in recent days approved an antigen test that can detect the virus’s proteins in a person’s nose.

Officials said that within a few weeks, the Quidel Corporation will put 300,000 tests on the market every day, meaning there will be 9 million more tests in circulation per month.

“These are the best machines and the best equipment anywhere in the world,” Mr. Trump said, pointing out an array of products in the Rose Garden.

Mr. Trump is promoting his pandemic response amid complaints the administration got a slow start in detecting the virus and is prodding states to reopen their economies without giving them enough support or guidance.

Widespread COVID-19 testing is considered the critical piece in reopening America amid the pandemic, which has infected over 1.3 million people and killed nearly 80,000 in the U.S.

The diagnostics root out who is carrying the disease — especially those who don’t show symptoms — and make sure they are isolated for a sufficient period instead of spreading it around.

Recent cases of COVID-19 at the heavily secured White House, however, threaten to undercut Mr. Trump’s push to get American life back to normal.

One of Mr. Trump’s valets, a Navy employee, tested positive and so did Katie Miller, a spokeswoman for Vice President Mike Pence.

Top government officials involved in the pandemic response are self-isolating at home as a precaution because they were potentially exposed during White House meetings.

“I don’t think the system broke down at all,” Mr. Trump said. “It can happen, it’s the hidden enemy.”

Mr. Trump and those around him are tested frequently, raising the question of when every across America will enjoy the same protections.

The president said he’s leaving it up to the governors to dictate who gets tested before returning to work.

“I think they’re making a lot of good decisions,” Mr. Trump said.

Brett Giroir, the U.S. COVID-19 testing “czar,” echoed Mr. Trump’s claim the U.S. is the undisputed champion of testing.

“Today we will have done more than twice the per capita rate of testing that was done in South Korea,” he said.

Mr. Trump frequently compares U.S. efforts to South Korea, which earned praise for its early response to COVID-19 but is dealing with flare-ups traced to nightclubs in the Itaewon neighborhood of Seoul.

South Korea this week donated 2 million face masks to the U.S. through the Federal Emergency Management Agency.

“Our alliance and friendship are as vital and ironclad today as it was 70 years ago,” tweeted Harry Harris, the U.S. ambassador to South Korea.

Also, the Veterans Affairs Administration is receiving 500,000 masks from Seoul as a goodwill gesture to mark the 70th anniversary of the start of the Korean War and its enduring alliance.