Rep. Frank Pallone to White House: Where’s the national testing strategy?

A senior House Democrat told the White House on Monday it risks “sharp increases in new infections and deaths” unless it develops a national plan to test for the coronavirus and antibodies in previously infected persons.

House Energy and Commerce Chairman Frank Pallone said the administration’s own experts have recommended broad testing before the economy can reopen, yet it “appears the Trump administration is abdicating its responsibility and forcing states and communities to fend for themselves.”

He said President Trump’s vocal push to reopen the country is on a collision course with the lack of a comprehensive strategy.

“It is clear that testing capacity in this country, both for diagnostic COVID-19 tests and serological tests for the presence of COVID-19 antibodies, must be significantly increased before we can safely ease social distancing guidelines,” the New Jersey Democrat wrote to Deborah Birx, the U.S. coronavirus coordinator. “However, I am concerned that expanding testing is not a priority for the administration given its inability to release a plan. The absence of a coordinated national testing strategy will hamper efforts to ease social distancing guidelines in the coming weeks and months.”

Mr. Trump says states need to take the lead and find a way to tap into excess lab capacity so they can detect who has the virus and open up safely. He said governors are favoring state labs instead of tapping into commercial labs like Quest and LabCorp.

Many governors say they cannot expand testing until the federal government helps them procure items like swabs, chemical reagents and protective equipment for lab workers.

Mr. Trump late Sunday said he will use the Defense Production Act to manufacture tens of millions of testing swabs, though the White House hasn’t released specifics.

He said those efforts will pay off, likening it to his earlier push to procure ventilators and exceed states’ needs.

“Now they scream ’Testing, Testing, Testing,’ again playing a very dangerous political game. States, not the Federal Government, should be doing the Testing — But we will work with the Governors and get it done. This is easy compared to the fast production of thousands of complex Ventilators!” Mr. Trump tweeted Monday.

The president frequently boasts that the U.S. has conducted the most tests of any country in the world — 3.8 million and counting — although critics note that per capita testing lags and early fumbles put the country on the back foot.

Mr. Pallone says the lack of a strategy moving forward will add to a “long line of failures” in testing.

The administration declined a test from the World Health Organization’s test and created its own at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, only to botch the rollout.

“After a possible contamination in CDC’s test that resulted in inconclusive results, CDC had to revise its test, causing delays of up to three weeks,” Mr. Pallone wrote. “Shortages in both the test and related testing supplies further undermined the country’s ability to detect the spread of coronavirus, and CDC eventually expanded its testing criteria only after complaints that some high-risk patients were not eligible for tests.

“Right now, the administration’s top priority should be forming specific plans to reopen the country in a way that will not jeopardize public health and result in sharp increases in new infections and deaths,” he added. “Critically, that will rely on greatly expanding testing from its current state.”