The Trump administration is promising to buy 100 million testing swabs and vials by the end of the year and distribute them to states as part of the federal response to the coronavirus pandemic, according to a report to Congress obtained by CNN.
“State plans must establish a robust testing program that ensures adequacy of Covid-19 testing, including tests for contact tracing, and surveillance of asymptomatic persons to determine community spread.
The plan, first reported by The Washington Post, outlines testing targets each state is expected to report to the federal government, noting a 12.9 million nationwide testing target for the month of May.
The White House has frequently emphasized what it sees as the states’ responsibility to handle testing, saying in a blueprint on testing last month that the federal government is the “supplier of last resort.”
“The Trump administration still does not take any responsibility for ramping up our nation’s testing capacity, instead pushing the burden onto the states — forcing states to compete with each other to procure vital supplies to administer tests from the private market,” said the statement, issued by House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, House Energy and Commerce Chairman Frank Pallone, and Sen. Patty Murray, the top Democrat on the Senate Health, Education, Labor & Pensions Committee.