WASHINGTON -- President Donald Trump announced Monday that the federal government will begin distributing millions of rapid coronavirus tests to states this week, as the worldwide death toll from the virus eclipsed 1 million.
The bleak milestone, recorded by Johns Hopkins University, continues to mount. Nearly 5,000 deaths are reported each day on average. Parts of Europe are getting hit by a second wave, and experts fear the same fate may await the U.S., which accounts for more than 205,000 deaths.
Trump on Monday urged governors to use the new testing kits to reopen schools for students in kindergarten through 12th grade.The move to vastly expand U.S. testing comes as confirmed new covid-19 cases remain elevated at more than 40,000 per day and experts warn of a likely surge in infections during the colder months ahead.
The tests will go out to states based on their population and can be used as governors see fit, but the Trump administration is encouraging states to place a priority on schools. White House officials said at a Rose Garden event that 6.5 million tests will go out this week and that a total of 100 million tests will be distributed to governors over the next several weeks.
Officials said the administration is emphasizing testing in schools because it's important to the physical, social and emotional development of students to be back in classrooms to the degree that's possible. The Abbott Laboratories tests would allow parents to know whether their symptomatic child has covid-19. In some cases, states could undertake some baseline surveillance, such as testing a proportion of students per week or per month to make sure that the incidence of covid-19 is low.
"You have too many states that are locked down right now," Trump said. "The governors are ... nobody knows what the governors are doing actually."
The tests will come from a previously announced supply of 150 million ordered from Abbott. The company's rapid test, the size of a credit card, is the first that does not require specialty computer equipment to process. It delivers results in about 15 minutes.
Rapid, convenient testing is considered essential to reopening the U.S. economy. But the effort has been plagued by problems since the earliest days of the outbreak.
First, the government lost pivotal weeks distributing, then correcting a flawed test developed by U.S. scientists. Then, for months private labs and hospitals struggled to ramp up testing capacity because of shortages of key supplies, including testing chemicals.
Only in the past two months has U.S. testing capacity generally exceeded demand. The government's top testing official, Adm. Brett Giroir, told Congress last week that the nation will soon have the capacity to run 3 million tests per day, on average. The U.S. has been averaging about 900,000 tests per day, according to data from the COVID Tracking Project.
Giroir demonstrated the ease with which the test is given, self-administering the nasal swab then placing it on a piece of paper that contained six drops of liquid.
"This is a very sophisticated little piece of cardboard with lots of antibodies and incredible technology," he said.
"Good luck, I hope you don't test positive," Trump joked.
Abbott's test is an important advance because of its low cost and easy-to-use format. Until now, the vast majority of coronavirus tests had to be sent to high-grade medical laboratories for processing that typically took several days. Backlogs led to repeated delays in reporting results, especially during a summer spike in cases.
But rapid, point-of-care tests like Abbott's have their own downsides. They are less accurate, and positive results often need to be confirmed with higher-grade lab tests. Additionally, because the tests are often performed outside the health care system, state officials have warned that many tests are going unreported. That could lead to undercounts of new cases, skewing government data needed to track the virus.
TRUMP: MORE TO COME
Trump on Monday warned Americans to expect more coronavirus cases in the weeks ahead.
"As younger and healthier people return to work, and as we massively increase testing capacity, we will identify more cases in asymptomatic individuals in low-risk cases. This should not cause undue alarm," Trump said at an event in the White House Rose Garden.
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"The total number of cases is not the full metric of success," Trump said. "Hospitalization capacity and mortality rates are far more instructive metrics. As we do more tests, you're going to have automatically more cases."
The tests from Abbott are being made in two factories, one in Illinois and one in Maine. The company is in a ramping-up phase. The federal government bought the first 150 million, and it will take the rest of the year to completely fill that order. After that, the administration will decide whether the government should purchase more or whether the free market can determine adequate distribution.
The nonprofit Rockefeller Foundation says the U.S. will need roughly 200 million tests per month to safely reopen schools as part of a broader phased approach to easing restrictions, according to a paper issued earlier this month. The report authors noted that the U.S. is currently averaging fewer than 30 million tests per month.
Despite the gap, Rockefeller's director, Dr. Jonathan Quick, called Monday's announcement "an exciting and very significant step." He added that states will need sustained funding and testing supplies "for the foreseeable future."
The Trump administration announced earlier this month that the Abbott tests would also go to assisted-living facilities, moving to fill a testing gap for older adults who do not need the constant attention of a nursing home. Senior day care centers and home health agencies are getting the tests too.
Long-term care facilities, including nursing homes and assisted living, account for a sliver of the U.S. population but more than 40% of deaths from covid-19.
WHO TEST PLAN
The World Health Organization announced Monday that it and leading partners have agreed to a plan to roll out 120 million rapid-diagnostic tests for the coronavirus to help lower- and middle-income countries make up ground in a testing gap with richer countries -- even if it's not fully funded yet.
The WHO issued an emergency-use listing last week for the antigen-based rapid diagnostic tests, which cost $5 apiece. The program initially requires $600 million and is to get started as early as next month to provide better access to areas where it's harder to reach with PCR tests that are used often in many wealthier nations.
The rapid tests look for antigens, or proteins found on the surface of the virus. They are generally considered less accurate -- though much faster -- than higher-grade genetic tests, known as PCR tests. Those tests require processing with specialty lab equipment and chemicals. Typically that turnaround takes several days to deliver results to patients.
WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus hailed the program as "good news" in the fight against covid-19.
"These tests provide reliable results in approximately 15 to 30 minutes, rather than hours or days, at a lower price with less sophisticated equipment," he said. "This will enable the expansion of testing, particularly in hard-to-reach areas that do not have lab facilities or enough trained health workers to carry out PCR tests."
"We have an agreement, we have seed funding and now we need the full amount of funds to buy these tests," he said, without specifying.
ALABAMA MASKS
In Alabama, the head of the Alabama Hospital Association and a doctor's group said Monday that Gov. Kay Ivey should extend the statewide rule requiring face masks in public, which health officials credit with stemming the spread of covid-19 in the state.
The number of new cases of covid-19 confirmed daily has fallen since reaching a high in the summer, and the reduction in the spread of the new coronavirus is all but certainly tied to the masking rule, which took effect in mid-July and is set to expire Friday, said Dr. Donald Williams, president of the association.
"The one thing that seems to have changed in the course of the pandemic is when the mask order was implemented," said Williamson. The association supports continuing the requirement through the end of the year and possibly longer, he said.
The Medical Association of the State of Alabama, with about 5,000 member doctors, also supports extending the rule, executive director Mark Jackson said.
"It has helped mitigate some of the positive tests. Sometimes it is a hassle to wear, but we think it is worth the hassle," he said.
Ivey and state health officials are weighing their options and will announce a decision this week, the governor's office said, but Ivey already has indicated she plans to keep the face mask order in place.
Speaking to Alabama Public Television in an interview aired Friday, Ivey said she knew some people have "grumbled" about the order, yet schools and businesses have reopened and unemployment has fallen since earlier in the pandemic.
"I don't like the mask, either. My glasses fog up. It's a pain in the rear. But at the same time it's working, and what's working we need to stick with," Ivey said.
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ELSEWHERE
In other coronavirus news:
• Facing a surge of new coronavirus cases far higher than in other parts of Belgium, Brussels authorities are closing bars early. Beginning Monday night, all bars and cafes have to close between 11 p.m. and 6 a.m. while any other businesses selling drinks or food will shut down at 10 p.m. In addition, eating at street markets is now forbidden.
• The Dutch government introduced new nationwide restrictions Monday aimed at tackling the swift spread of coronavirus infections that is sweeping across the country, including banning supporters from professional sports matches and ordering bars and restaurants to close at 10 p.m. for the coming three weeks.
• Greek authorities say 12 crew members on a Maltese-flagged cruise ship carrying more than 1,500 people on a Greek islands tour have tested positive for coronavirus and have been isolated on board. Sample tests for coronavirus were carried out on 150 crew members and 12 were positive but asymptomatic, Greece's Shipping Ministry said. The passengers had undergone coronavirus tests before boarding.
Information for this article was contributed by Matthew Perrone, Samuel Petrequin, Jamey Keaten, Adam Geller, Rishabh R. Jain and staff members of The Associated Press; and by Kristen V. Brown, Justin Sink and Josh Wingrove of Bloomberg News.
