It doesn’t appear likely that Mobile will get widespread coronavirus testing in the near future, and that appears to have created some tension between the city’s top elected official and its top public health officer.

That picture emerged in a series of back-and-forth press conferences on Wednesday, after Mobile County’s health officer, Dr. Bernard Eichold II, ordered a one-week shutdown of on-premise service at restaurants, bars and most other food service establishments, effective at 5 p.m. Wednesday. The order also prohibits visitors and non-essential health care personnel at nursing homes and long-term care facilities; requires senior centers to close to all gatherings; and calls for a shutdown of daycare facilities and schools “with more than 12 person.”

Eichold’s order cites his authority under section 22-3-5(2) of the Code of Alabama of 1975. This is the same section cited Tuesday by State Health Officer Scott Harris in his very similar order applying to Blount, Saint Clair, Shelby, Tuscaloosa and Walker counties.

Mobile County Health Department Epidemiologist Rendi Murphree, who also is director of the MCHD’s Bureau of Disease Surveillance and Environmental Services, fielded numerous questions about testing at a 2:30 p.m. media update session. She said the MCHD had been ready and willing to offer testing, but wouldn’t be able to until federal authorities supplied test kits.

“Part of the issue with testing is that the testing materials are in rather short supply, and most of those materials are being diverted to areas of the United States that need the most testing,” Murphree said. “Would we like to have limitless testing? Absolutely.”

She said that local health care institutions have been conserving their limited supplies of test kits for the patients most in need of acute care. The health department still hoped to open its own testing location at some point.

“We still have the plans, we still have everything in place. If our orders are filled at some point, we may be able to open that,” she said. “But we’re not able to do that at this time and not in the foreseeable -- not in the next week or 10 days, I don’t think.”

Murphree later said it could be well into April before the department could offer testing. “I hope that tomorrow or Friday we have better news than that,” she said. “We just can’t say at this point because, again, I heard on a federal call that orders that had been placed by states and many other jurisdictions … had been canceled by the federal government and those supplies diverted to the Strategic National Stockpile.”

Next up was Mayor Sandy Stimpson, who gave his daily update on coronavirus measures at 3:30 p.m. The MCHD had indicated that Eichold would take part, but he did not. The mayor indicated he wasn’t wild about the restaurant shutdown.

“As we work our way through the situation where we are, we have to be supportive of each other,” Stimpson said. “So, Dr. Eichold has the authority to do what he did. That is not what I would have done. And I will leave it at that.”

Stimpson said the lack of at-will testing was a problem.

“The biggest challenge we face right now is the number of tests that we need,” he said. “We have so many citizens that want to be tested and the tests aren’t available. The city’s not responsible for those, for the procurement of those tests, but that is the biggest challenge if you listen to the heads of the hospitals. … We can’t do it without the testing equipment, and that comes back to the Mobile County Board of Health."

He said the city was willing to support testing stations but “we’ve got to get the tests in the city of Mobile first.”

“There is a, I would say, a conversation or a battle going on to get the test kits,” Stimpson said. “And other places are getting test kits and Mobile is not getting them, and I just wonder if it’s being expressed that we need them. That’s my concern … My hope is that Dr. Eichold understands that he’s the point person on that and will make it happen.”

Stimpson theorized that private-sector labs might be the first to provide widespread testing in Mobile, and speculated that could come within the next two weeks.

Eichold followed with his own press conference at 5 p.m. He downplayed any difference of opinion and said a miscommunication had led to the expectation he would be part of Stimpson’s presentation.

“The mayor is a great person, and a great leader of our community,” Eichold said. “We can disagree about how to handle this particular situation."

As for his order on restaurants, he said, “I went and conferenced with the health officer of Jefferson County, the state health officer, physicians with various hospitals, and at this point in time it’s the right thing to do. It’s not easy to make this decision, but I think it’s the right one to do right now.”

“The mayor has his opinion,” said Eichold. “The mayor’s trained as an engineer, the mayor is a duly elected representative of the community and I respect his opinion on things, but this is a health issue and so we’re dealing with it on the best science we have available, in conjunction with other physicians around the state and the Alabama Department of Public Health.'

As for testing, Eichold said, “The reason we are not doing more testing is we don’t have personal protective equipment and we do not have the kits. Those are controlled by the federal government. … We still don’t have enough of the kits to do mass testing.”

When will that change? “I will tell you, that is a question that has to be presented to FEMA, who’s in charge of the Strategic National Stockpile," Eichold said. "We were ready to set up and do testing Monday, had we had PPE and had we had test kits. It’s not a lack of desire or will on the Mobile County Health Department or the Alabama Department of Public Health.'

Eichold said that while Mobile County has no confirmed cases of COVID-19, the number in Alabama and in surrounding states is rapidly growing. He and Murphree both said it’s highly likely that the disease is being passed around within the county, even though no cases have been confirmed, and aggressive measures now may stifle its spread.

“The order is based on data,” he said. “We want to be very cautious.”

“We’re not waiting to have a case in Mobile County,” he said. “I’d rather be more proactive to prevent the spread of this disease, if we can.”

Eichold said he hoped to smooth out communications with Stimpson.

“I don’t think there’s a disagreement,” he said. “I think we had some failures in adequate communication. We will work better with the mayor’s office as we go forward. ... We all need to get on the same sheet of music.”