States to receive virus testing kits
Health officials urge calm after WHO bumps risk level to ‘very high’
WASHINGTON — Federal health officials said Friday they’re scrambling to get coronavirus testing up and running in every state, as President Donald Trump’s chief economic adviser urged Americans not to overreact to plunging financial markets.
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said two more Americans tested positive for the virus out of the group of quarantined passengers from the Diamond Princess cruise ship, bringing the national total to 62.
And the World Health Organization upgraded the risk level from the virus to “very high” as it continued to spread around the globe.
Two days after the White House abruptly shifted gears from Trump’s initial assurances of minimal U.S. fallout to an allout mobilization under Vice President Mike Pence, the ad
ministration’s messaging still wasn’t completely seamless.
The president’s team responded to the biggest oneweek Wall Street sell-off in more than a decade with a deflection strategy, playing down the threat and eagerly parceling out responsibility to Democrats, the media and the entrenched government bureaucracy.
Trump tweeted that “The Do Nothing Democrats” had wasted time on impeachment and “anything else they could do to make the Republican Party look bad” while defending his own response to the virus outbreak, which many across the aisle have deemed sluggish and scattershot.
Some of his closest allies amplified that message and accused White House foes of hyping the threat posed by the virus, which has killed more than 2,800 people — most of them in China, where it originated.
“The flu kills people,” said acting White House chief of staff Mick Mulvaney, speaking at the Conservative Political Action Conference, an annual gathering for conservative activists. “This is not Ebola. It’s not SARS, it’s not MERS. It’s not a death sentence, it’s not the same as the Ebola crisis.”
Mulvaney went on to accuse the news media of giving short shrift to administration efforts to combat the virus — namely, barring entry by most foreign nationals who had recently visited China — in favor of focusing on negative stories about Trump.
The travel restrictions were widely covered in the news media.
Trump administration political appointees and nonpartisan career government scientists both agree that the current risk to
Americans is low, although that could quickly change. But some political officials are continuing to offer assurances that concerns will blow over soon, while the scientists are emphasizing preparations for circumstances as yet unknown.
“I acknowledge that this could change. I acknowledge the situation could deteriorate. I acknowledge the risks,” White House economic adviser Larry Kudlow told reporters Friday. “But, given what we know looks to me like the market has gone too far.” As he spoke, financial markets continued their steep drop.
On Capitol Hill, lawmakers of both parties are working on a spending bill to be unveiled early next week and expected to be two to three times more than the $2.5 billion the White House had requested for anti-virus efforts.
For the CDC’s disease detectives, the priority now is setting up a nationwide testing infrastructure after a shaky start. Dr. Nancy Messonier, the CDC’s chief of respiratory diseases, told reporters the goal is to have every state capable of testing for the virus by the end of next week.
A three-step test kit from the CDC is being replaced with a two-step process that Messonnier said should work better.
“Our goal is to have every state and local health department doing its own testing by the end of next week,” said Messonnier. That’s a considered a critical step because it would push the front lines of surveillance closer to local communities where new cases might present themselves.
Officials have confirmed the second case of the virus in the U.S. believed to have been transmitted to a person who didn’t travel internationally or come in close contact with anyone who had it. Both women live in Northern California.
Although the president himself is famously skeptical of science, the White House is now trying to surround itself with top-flight scientific expertise. On Friday, officials announced the White House and the National Academy of Sciences have established a committee of experts on infectious diseases to help on the coronavirus threat.
Next week, Congress is expected to expedite a bipartisan spending bill for the anti-virus campaign that could total between $6 billion and $8 billion.
Democrats are insisting the bill must comprise new spending, while the White House wants to divert some of the money from existing programs. Lawmakers from Maine are trying to block administration efforts to tap a program that helps lowincome people pay home heating bills.
As other countries hard hit by coronavirus cancel public activities and shutter schools, Health and Human Services Secretary Alex Azar said such measures could be part of the containment toolkit here, if needed.