Media Coverage

President Trump and Vice President Pence hold a White House briefing with airline CEOs and diagnostic lab CEOs on coronavirus. There are at least 100 confirmed cases in the country, along with nine deaths, but some experts have suggested that the real number may be considerably higher if testing is expanded.

Following ongoing developments related to COVID-19 testing and response, included below is a statement from ACLA President Julie Khani following today’s meeting with the White House’s Coronavirus Task Force:[CR-LF][CR-LF]“We appreciated the opportunity to meet with Vice President Pence and members of the White House’s Coronavirus Task Force this afternoon on the critical issues related to testing capacity. As an industry, clinical labs have taken steps to meet the growing demand for national testing and are working together with the Administration, the CDC and FDA as well as state and local public health labs, hospitals and academic medical centers.

FDA Commissioner Stephen Hahn said Monday that, by the end of the week, U.S. labs would have enough materials to perform close to 1 million tests. Public health experts say that figure is misleading because it is far larger than the number of samples that can be processed in labs in the coming weeks.[CR-LF][CR-LF]The realistic estimate is now likely around 5,000 each day, according to a public health lab industry group.

With legal marijuana use laws continuing to make traction throughout the U.S., and the perception of a dwindling job applicant pool, some employers are asking if they should continue to conduct screening for marijuana. Some employers are also challenging the entire idea of performing drug testing in their workplaces. Is there still a benefit to having a drug-free workplace program?

It could be weeks before the United States can meet the demand for coronavirus testing because doctors, hospitals and some public health labs say they aren’t set up yet to do the tests.[CR-LF][CR-LF]Ratcheting up the country’s ability to detect the disease is crucial to understand how the coronavirus — now confirmed in at least 12 states — is spreading. But testing so far has been severely limited by problems with a diagnostic test developed by CDC.