Everyone’s Clamoring For Rapid Tests, But Indian Health Service, Rural Communities Get Bumped To Front Of Line
Right now, places that are served by IHS and other rural communities don't have the labs set up to test with the traditional, slower nasal swabs. So they are the priority for access to the quick coronavirus tests. Meanwhile, mandates for states to report data doesn't paint the full picture of the virus outbreak yet, rather it just reveals the holes where no data is available.
Politico:
Indian Health Service, Rural Areas To Have Priority Access To Rapid Coronavirus Tests
Rapid point-of-care coronavirus tests will be used to support areas of the country with the least access to testing, as well as nursing homes, White House coronavirus coordinator Deborah Birx told reporters today. “These are new tests, and we have prioritized the groups that we think have the least access to testing now,” Birx said. Priority will be given to the Indian Health Service and rural areas that do not have access to labs that perform high-volume coronavirus tests, she said. (Lim, 4/2)
Detroit Free Press:
Detroit Is First US City To Get 15-Minute Coronavirus Tests
The city of Detroit began testing its first responders, bus drivers and health care workers for COVID-19 on Thursday, using new rapid testing kits that produce results in about 15 minutes. Detroit is the first city in the country to begin using the kits from Abbott, a global health care company based in Lake County, Illinois, Mayor Mike Duggan has said. (Guillen, 4/2)
Boston Globe:
How Accurate Are Coronavirus Tests? Doctors Raise Concern About ‘False-Negative’ Results
As more people are gaining access to COVID-19 tests, doctors say they are encountering a troubling number of “false negatives" — test results that indicate patients aren’t sick, despite clear signs and symptoms of coronavirus infection. This phenomenon of “false negatives” is not new; no medical test is 100 percent accurate, but the stakes here are incredibly high. Some health experts have suggested the number of false-negative coronavirus tests could be up to 30 percent. (Lazar and Ryan, 4/2)
Kaiser Health News:
Trump Touted Abbott’s Quick COVID-19 Test. HHS Document Shows Only 5,500 Are On Way For Entire U.S.
A coronavirus test made by Abbott Laboratories and introduced with considerable fanfare by President Donald Trump in a Rose Garden news conference this week is giving state and local health officials very little added capacity to perform speedy tests needed to control the COVID-19 pandemic. “That’s a whole new ballgame,” Trump said. “I want to thank Abbott Labs for the incredible work they’ve done. They’ve been working around-the-clock.” (Pradhan, 4/2)
Politico:
Piecemeal Testing Flusters Officials Tracking Coronavirus Pandemic
The surge in coronavirus testing was supposed to give public health officials a better grip on who’s sick and where. Instead, it’s exposing gaps in reporting, raising concern about whether complete results and basic information about patients that test positive is getting through to officials and health workers trying to contain the pandemic. A hodgepodge of federal and state mandates on big commercial labs like Quest Diagnostics and others running tests have created reporting holes, even as about 100,000 are processed daily. (Tahir, 4/2)
Modern Healthcare:
DaVita, Fresenius Partner To Create Network Of COVID-19 Dialysis Clinics
The country's largest dialysis providers are joining forces to protect some of the most vulnerable patients during the coronavirus pandemic. Dialysis clinic operators Fresenius Medical Care and DaVita, along with several other kidney care organizations, said they are working together to create and share a nationwide network of clinics that will focus on serving patients with COVID-19. (Livingston, 4/1)
The Associated Press:
Testing Issues Cloud Scope Of California's Virus Outbreak
California is ramping up testing for coronavirus even as a backlog of 59,000 pending tests is growing, delaying some people from getting results for up to 12 days and leaving an incomplete picture of how widespread the outbreak is in the state. Testing rolled out slowly in California but is accelerating now. More than 90,000 tests have been administered statewide, but nearly two-thirds of those results were still pending, according to state figures. (Melley, 4/3)
The Wall Street Journal:
Who Has Covid-19? What We Know About Tests For The New Coronavirus
The U.S. stumbled in the early days of the coronavirus pandemic, with testing limited by problems with a government-developed test and narrow testing criteria. Now dozens of options are emerging after the Food and Drug Administration opened the door for authorized companies and labs. We are updating this guide regularly with what we learn about the state of testing across the U.S. (4/2)
NPR:
Racial Bias Showing Up In Coronavirus Testing And Treatment
The new coronavirus doesn't discriminate. But physicians in public health and on the front lines say that in the response to the pandemic, they can already see the emergence of familiar patterns of racial and economic bias. In one analysis, it appears doctors may be less likely to refer African Americans for testing when they show up for care with signs of infection. (Farmer, 4/2)
Kaiser Health News and Politifact HealthCheck:
Fox News’ Jesse Watters Said Travel Bans ‘More Critical In Saving Lives’ Than COVID Testing. He’s Wrong.
Defending President Donald Trump’s coronavirus response, Fox News commentator Jesse Watters highlighted federal efforts to restrict international travelers who may be infected — a ban he claimed mattered more than diagnostic testing. “We were slow with the testing, but very quick with the travel ban. And that’s been much more critical in saving lives,” Watters said during a March 31 episode of “The Five.” (Luthra, 4/3)
The Oklahoman:
Stitt Urges More Oklahomans To Get Tested As More Mobile Sites Spring Up
Gov. Kevin Stitt on Thursday urged more Oklahomans to get tested for COVID-19, saying hospitals and county health departments need to “loosen their standards.”Stitt said the state has the capability of testing 15,000 people and that private labs could test more. (Casteel, 4/3)
Modern Healthcare:
White House Data Request Highlights Coordinated Response Concerns
Not all states require hospitals to provide the same types of testing data. Recent reports indicate some states provide only positive COVID-19 test results from private labs. Other states post positive tests and deaths but not the number of tests that turn out to be negative results. All that leads to incomplete view of how the virus is spreading—something that epidemiologists say has put the U.S at a disadvantage. (Johnson, 4/2)
