California’s capability to check people for COVID-19, the disease brought on by the brand-new coronavirus, has been limited by incomplete test sets supplied by the federal government, the state’s guv stated Thursday
So far only about 1,500 people have been evaluated in the state, Gov. Gavin Newsom (D) said in a press conference. While the state government has 8,000 test kits readily available, the kits have not all included every needed component to actually perform the test for COVID-19, Newsom stated.
” I continue to strengthen the tests are not complete, kits all do not include re-agents, chemicals, services that are components,” Newsom said, including that it was “necessary” that laboratories get access to “all ingredients that are elements of the test.”
” I marvel this is not more of the nationwide discussion,” he stated, adding it was comparable to going to a shop and buying a printer but not having any ink to print with.
Newsom stated that at the “start of this process,” the state did not realize the federal government’s test kits were incomplete. The problem ended up being clear after “uncertainty” and “inquiries” from local labs saying they couldn’t utilize the kits. There have actually been backlogs in local laboratories due to the fact that tests did not have all the needed elements, he stated– though since Thursday there were no reported stockpiles staying.
The state has actually been proactively resolving the laboratories’ requirements for missing out on components to complete tests, including relying on lab company Quest Diagnostics to process backlogged tests. The state is partnering with other business laboratories, in addition to university and private hospitals, to supplement screening moving forward.
Newsom stated the Centers for Disease Control was “aware” of the problem and he had talked to Vice President Mike Pence about it Wednesday. The CDC and the White Home