Exclusive: U.S. coronavirus testing threatened by shortage of critical lab materials

[Dennis Donovan]

https://www.politico.com/news/2020/03/10/coronavirus-testing-lab-materials-shortage-125212

The slow pace of coronavirus testing has created a major gap in the U.S. public health response.

By DAVID LIM and BRIANNA EHLEY

03/10/2020 06:56 PM EDT

A looming shortage in lab materials is threatening to delay coronavirus test results and cause officials to undercount the number of Americans with the virus.

The slow pace of coronavirus testing has created a major gap in the U.S. public health response. The latest problem involves an inability to prepare samples for testing, creating uncertainties in how long it will take to get results.

CDC Director Robert Redfield told POLITICO on Tuesday that he is not confident that U.S. labs have an adequate stock of the supplies used to extract genetic material from any virus in a patient’s sample — a critical step in coronavirus testing.

“The availability of those reagents is obviously being looked at,” he said, referring to the chemicals used for preparing samples. “I’m confident of the actual test that we have, but as people begin to operationalize the test, they realize there’s other things they need to do the test.”

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