"Can I tell my constituents that if a doctor recommends, that they can get [a coronavirus test]? We still don't know that, and that's the important question."

Alex Wong / Getty Images Dr. Anthony Fauci, director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, leaves a briefing on the coronavirus on Capitol Hill.

WASHINGTON — A day after the World Health Organization declared the coronavirus a pandemic, health experts came to the Capitol on Thursday to brief members of Congress on the disease and testing.

But members emerged from the meeting saying they were unhappy with the lack of information health experts provided. “What we still don't have is a real sense [of the situation], and this is what's most important to us. You can talk to us about reagents and processing capacity, but we still don't have is: Can I tell my constituents that if a doctor recommends, that they can get [a test]?” Rep. Jim Himes told BuzzFeed News after the meeting. “We still don't know that, and that's the important question.” A shortage of testing kits has become the latest problem in trying to implement nationwide coronavirus detection, according to reports. But health officials, including Dr. Anthony Fauci, the director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, weren’t able to give “clear” responses on how they would address the issue or how long it would take, members said. Fauci told members in a separate House committee hearing Thursday that the US is “failing” at providing testing for the coronavirus. "It is failing. Let’s admit it. … The system ... is not really geared to what we need right now,” he told the House Oversight Committee.

There’s a lot we still don’t know about the coronavirus outbreak. Our newsletter Outbreak Today will do its best to put everything we do know in one place — you can sign up here. Do you have questions you want answered? You can always get in touch. And if you're someone who is seeing the impact of this firsthand, we’d also love to hear from you (you can reach out to us via one of our tip line channels).

