Vice President Mike Pence stops to talk to reporters briefly as he leaves the US Capitol after meeting with Congressional Democrats and Republicans on recent developments with the novel coronavirus March 4 in Washington, DC. Samuel Corum/Getty Images

Vice President Mike Pence said the United States doesn’t have enough coronavirus tests, at this point, to meet what officials expect to be the demand for them in the future.

“We don’t have enough tests today to meet what we anticipate will be the demand going forward,” Pence told reporters following a meeting with his coronavirus task force and executives from 3M in Minnesota.

“For those that we believe have been exposed, for those who are showing symptoms, we’ve been able to provide the testing,” Pence said.

He went on to say the US "distributed 1,500 kits, with roughly 500 tests each so there’s roughly about a million and a half tests going out to hospitals."

Medical professionals note that many patients require multiple tests to confirm a positive test result, meaning that of the million and a half tests available, the number of patients who actually receive the tests will likely be much lower, until supplies and testing capacity are increased.

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