Morning Briefing
Summaries of health policy coverage from major news organizations
Who Gets Rapid COVID Tests First? HHS Sending To States For Assisted Living Facilities, Schools
AP: Feds To Ship Fast COVID-19 Tests To Assisted Living Sites
A federal official said Tuesday the government plans to ship rapid coronavirus tests to assisted living facilities, moving to fill a testing gap for older adults who don’t need the constant attention of a nursing home. Health and Human Services Assistant Secretary for Health Adm. Brett Giroir said assisted living facilities will be followed by senior day care centers and home health agencies in getting the tests. (Alonso-Zaldivar, 9/2)
The Hill: Trump Officials To Begin Distributing New Rapid Test To States This Month
The administration is touting the new devices, which received emergency authorization by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) last week, as a major advance in the country’s testing capabilities, following months of delays and setbacks that have plagued the country’s response to the pandemic. The federal government will purchase 150 million of the tests to deploy through the remainder of 2020, administration officials announced last week. On Tuesday, Giroir provided more details on their deployment. (Sullivan, 9/1)
CNBC: HHS Deploys Abbott's New Coronavirus Tests To States Hit By Wildfires, Hurricanes
The federal government is deploying extra coronavirus testing materials, including Abbott’s new rapid test kits, to areas of the country recently hit hard by natural disasters, Assistant Secretary for Health Adm. Brett Giroir said Tuesday. Hurricane Laura in Louisiana and the wildfires on the West Coast have prompted the evacuation of hundreds of thousands of people. (Feuer, 9/1)
In other testing news —
NPR: Florida Cuts Ties With Large Coronavirus Testing Lab, Citing 75,000 Delayed Results
Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis is ordering state agencies to end their relationships with Quest Diagnostics after the large medical laboratory said it had mistakenly delayed reporting the results of nearly 75,000 coronavirus tests to the state. The delayed results dated as far back as April. Quest has apologized, saying a technical error was at fault. (Chappell, 9/1)
Los Angeles Times: California To Unveil New COVID-19 Reporting System
A month after a state public health computer database failure caused the distortion of COVID-19 test results across California and disrupted the state’s response to the pandemic, the Newsom administration on Tuesday announced that a new reporting system will be online in October. The state signed a contract with software company OptumInsight Inc. for a database that will handle all COVID-19 testing results, replacing the troubled California Reportable Disease Information Exchange, or CalREDIE. (Willon, 9/1)
Houston Chronicle: ‘It’s Really A Relief’: COVID-19 Testing For The Workplace Soothes Worried Employers
Why have employees wait in drive-thru lines when they could get COVID-19 testing through their companies, much as they get flu shots? (Wu, 9/2)
AP: The Latest: German Lab Head Cautions On Use For Tests
The head of an association representing German medical laboratories has criticized proposals to use veterinary and industrial labs to process coronavirus tests. Andreas Bobrowksi, chairman of the medical laboratories association BDL, says the capacity to conduct more tests is limited by the shortage of materials required to process them, which he says has been “covered up by rationing.” (9/1)
In other developments on tracing and tracking the virus —
The Washington Post: Apple And Google Give States New Options For Exposure Notification Software
Apple and Google said Tuesday they’re expanding coronavirus warning software so that state health agencies can participate without having to create customized apps. The new option, called “exposure notifications express,” removes one of the key barriers to adoption that led to a slow start to the software, which can warn people when they come in close contact with someone who has been diagnosed with the coronavirus. So far, only six U.S. states have created apps that work with Apple and Google’s software. (Albergotti, 9/1)
AP: Apple, Google Build Virus-Tracing Tech Directly Into Phones
Apple and Google are trying to get more U.S. states to adopt their phone-based approach for tracing and curbing the spread of the coronavirus by building more of the necessary technology directly into phone software.That could make it much easier for people to get the tool on their phone even if their local public health agency hasn’t built its own compatible app. (O'Brien, 9/1)
