A White House official sharply criticized the Centers for Disease Prevention and Control (CDC) on Sunday for blaming the United States’ initial testing delays.
“At the start of the crisis, the CDC, which had the most respected expertise around the world in this area, really let the country fall for screening“said White House economic adviser Peter Navarro on the NBC channel.
“Not only did they keep screening within the administration, but they also produced a bad test. And it made us fall behind“added Mr. Navarro.
Reagent problem
The only test used at the start of the epidemic was the one developed by the CDC using technology validated by the World Health Organization (WHO) and used worldwide. But because of a reagent problem, the first kits distributed sometimes gave inconclusive results – neither positive nor negative.
Public laboratories in American states and private players were not allowed to develop and distribute their own tests. They could not act until February 29, after the announcement of the first death due to the coronavirus in the United States which today deplores nearly 90,000 deaths.
Since then, the country has greatly increased its screening capacity and more than 12 million Americans have been tested. President Donald Trump continues to congratulate himself on the progress made.
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But that represents only 4% of the American population which places the first world power in 39th place, behind Italy, Spain or Russia, according to the statistics site Worldometer.
Critics of the president fear that screening capacities will not be sufficient to prevent the emergence of a new wave of contamination, at a time when many states have embarked on the path of deconfinement.
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