More coronavirus tests have been performed in the United States over the past eight days than have been done in eight weeks, and even more will follow in upcoming weeks as the nation works to stop the epidemic's spread, Dr. Deborah Birx, the response coordinator for the White House Coronavirus Task Force, said Tuesday.
"We did that because we transformed the testing process," Birx said during a Fox News town hall with President Donald Trump, Vice President Mike Pence, and Surgeon General Jerome Adams, explaining over 300,000 tests have been done.
(The COVID Tracking Project lists 357,907 cases have been tested in America to date.)
A new self-test has also been approved, but that does not mean people are yet able to test themselves, the doctor said.
"The individual can drive up, receive the items, because again, we want to test people with fever and symptoms who really need tested," Birx said. "They can swab the front of their nose, put it in the container and the [aide] can collect it with gloves, gloves alone."
Still, that does not mean that people without coronavirus symptoms should be tested, she insisted.
"If you don't have a persistent fever, if you don't have a cough, if you're not in a risk group, if you're not a nurse or doctor, we want that testing provided in the cities to be very much still focused on the people who need it," Birx said.
She added, for the most part nationwide, only about 10% of the tests are coming back as positive, compared to in the New York City region, where the rates are coming in in the 28% range.
Part of the reason is New York's high population, and another is the spread could have come from metal surfaces, like the subway.
"Part of it may be that a large number of people came back from Christmas in Asia," Birx said. "Part of it could be the Europeans who have come back subsequently. Obviously, it's a big area of world trade and global transit. I think the virus was probably quietly expanding. Until it gets into an older population, you don't really see it in the same way."
Sandy Fitzgerald ✉
Sandy Fitzgerald has more than three decades in journalism and serves as a general assignment writer for Newsmax covering news, media, and politics.
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