Media Coverage

Public health officials have been clamoring for greater testing capacity to help them combat the spread of the new coronavirus in their communities. Now, as testing is poised to become more widely available from commercial labs, the cost of those diagnostic tests could become a factor in the effort to control the virus.[CR-LF][CR-LF]Lab Corp. announced Thursday it was immediately offering testing for COVID-19, while Quest Diagnostics said it will start testing specimens next week, increasing the options for hospitals, physicians offices and urgent care clinics.

President Trump, on a visit to the Centers for Disease Control in Atlanta, asserted that coronavirus tests are available to "anybody." "Anybody that wants a test can get a test," he said. "That's what the bottom line is."[CR-LF][CR-LF][CR-LF]And he added, "Anybody right now and yesterday, anybody that needs a test gets a test. They're there. They have the tests and the tests are beautiful. Anybody that needs a test gets a test. If there's a doctor that wants to test, if there's somebody coming off a ship like the big monster ship that's out there right now, which you know again, that's a big decision. Do I wanna bring all of those people on? People would like me to do that. I don't like the idea of doing it."

New coronavirus cases emerge across the country. Michigan is the biggest of the six primary states voting next week. And, a cease-fire between Turkey and Russia is in effect in northwestern Syria.

Nearly a week after the first U.S. coronavirus death was announced, the Trump administration scrambled Friday to meet its target for increasing the number of people able to be tested. But it still could take weeks for the actual tests to take place.[CR-LF][CR-LF]HHS Secretary Alex Azar told reporters that the government had shipped out materials for 700,000 coronavirus tests — well short of the 1.5 million that Vice President Mike Pence had said would be available to hospitals this week, in remarks on Wednesday. Late Friday, Assistant Secretary for Health Brett Giroir told POLITICO that more tests passed quality checks, bringing the total ready to 1.5 million.

Hospitals across the state are preparing for an influx of people wondering whether they’ve contracted coronavirus by making plans for “triage centers” outside their main buildings.[CR-LF][CR-LF]The centers could be tents in hospital parking lots, or temporary trailers or office space, not necessarily near the hospitals that would open them.[CR-LF][CR-LF]The extra infrastructure would be used primarily for screening and testing, not treatment, in order to keep people who think they may have contracted the COVID-19 coronavirus out of waiting rooms and emergency departments where people with otherwise compromised immune systems might be.

Dr. Amy Compton-Phillips recalled the day the first U.S. patient infected with COVID-19, a 35-year-old man from Snohomish County in Washington state, had taken a “turn for the worse.”[CR-LF][CR-LF]“He was day nine in his course and he actually started going downhill, started getting worse,” said Compton-Phillips, chief clinical officer of Providence St. Joseph Health, where the patient was treated.[CR-LF][CR-LF]At first, the patient only had common cold-like symptoms, Compton-Phillips said. But very quickly he began to have shortness of breath and a cough, she said. His X-ray also showed viral pneumonia. He needed supplemental oxygen and had to be put on an experimental antiviral treatment.

Connecticut lawmakers will begin the daunting task Friday of crafting a strategy to mobilize the public and private sectors to combat the coronavirus – an effort that comes as state health officials acknowledged hundreds of residents are being monitored for the illness.[CR-LF][CR-LF]The state Department of Public Health is aware of 200 people currently being monitored for the virus, said Max Reiss, spokesman for Gov. Ned Lamont. The governor was briefed Thursday by Renee Coleman-Mitchell, commissioner of the state Department of Public Health, and Dr. Matthew Carter, the state epidemiologist.

A major health insurance trade group is pledging its member plans will cover doctor-ordered testing for the coronavirus amid rising confusion and concern about who will bear the cost of care in an outbreak.

U.S. Sen. Bob Menendez on Thursday joined with 14 Senate colleagues to urge U.S. employers to commit not to penalize workers for following recommended health procedures in order to protect the public from further spread of the coronavirus.[CR-LF][CR-LF]In a letter to major industry groups, which together represent thousands of companies employing millions of Americans, the senators wrote: “As the United States mobilizes to respond to the recent outbreak and spread of COVID-19, the novel coronavirus, we write to urge your member companies to prioritize their employees’ health, economic well-being, and security during this response. The companies you represent are some of the largest, most high profile companies in the United States. The broader business community watches their actions closely and we believe they have an opportunity, and an obligation, to lead in this moment.”

U.S. lab operator Quest Diagnostics Inc said on Thursday it was launching a test service for coronavirus and can start testing from next week.[CR-LF][CR-LF]On Wednesday, the Trump administration met with private lab test developers to discuss increasing the availability of diagnostics.[CR-LF][CR-LF]The company said test services will be provided as a laboratory developed test, pending review by the FDA under emergency-use authorization.