During a visit to the CDC on March 6th, President Trump declared that “anybody that needs a test gets a test,” but more than a month later testing shortages and a lack of federal support continue to undermine the efforts of public health officials in Maine and across the country to curb the spread of the coronavirus.

 

The Trump administration promised Maine state officials a shipment of rapid testing machines and kits that could have boosted our testing capacity six-fold but ultimately only delivered 5% of what they had initially pledged. Insufficient testing capacity has “hamstrung” the effort to curb the spread of the virus in Maine and has forced public health officials to operate with incomplete data on the extent of the outbreak.

 

Despite Trump’s broken promises, Senator Susan Collins defended his response to the coronavirus crisis, arguing that he “did a lot that was right in the beginning.” While Senator Angus King and 44 other Senators have called on the Trump administration to release a detailed plan to address testing shortages, Senator Collins has remained silent.

 

As Maine’s health care providers and public health officials continue to grapple with testing shortages, will Collins finally stand up to Trump and fight for the resources they need, or will she continue dodging questions from the press and making excuses for Trump?

 

Maine Public: How A Lack Of Tests Has Hamstrung Maine's Efforts To Curb COVID-19 And Reopen The Economy

 

By Steve Mistler

April 18, 2020

 

Key Points:

 

  • The situation in Maine is not unique. States all over the country have struggled with a shortage of test kits, supplies and even the personal protective equipment needed by health care workers to perform tests on suspected COVID-19 patients.

 

  • The shortfall has come against the backdrop of President Donald Trump’s thus far unfulfilled promises of expanded testing capacity and ballyhooed private partnerships that have been slow to materialize.

 

  • Last month, the limited federal disbursements of critical testing supplies forced the Maine CDC to purchase a new testing platform to help clear a backlog of tests for high-risk individuals that reached more than 1,000 samples.

 

  • And the competition for supplies between states has been so fierce that Shah last month declined to name the type of the new platform Maine is using because he feared other public health officials might make a similar move and drain supplies of testing reagents.

 

  • The federal government also thwarted Maine’s efforts to boost testing capacity by obtaining a new rapid test from Abbott Labs. After initially promising a shipment of machines and test kits that could have increased the Maine CDC capacity by sixfold, the feds ultimately delivered 5 percent of what it originally promised. 

 

  • That’s left an incomplete picture of the outbreak in Maine. While the CDC’s daily updates on confirmed case numbers are publicized, many Mainers suspected of having the disease have not been tested. Some have settled for a clinical diagnosis, which is not reflected in the state's daily case update. Others might have been infected and are unaware of it.

 

  • Shah has described the daily COVID-19 case reports as showing just the “tip of the iceberg,” and he’s encouraged Mainers to assume that the virus is widespread in their communities, regardless of whether their respective counties are showing low numbers of confirmed cases.

 

  • “Additional testing is needed,” said Shah on Wednesday, adding that widespread testing would allow the state to take a more aggressive posture against the virus because infected people could be quickly quarantined. Additionally, tracing an infected person's contacts would allow state officials to quickly notify people so they can self-isolate.

 

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