Mike Pence says US has enough tests for ‘phase one’ of process but taskforce experts acknowledge uncertainty

The White House coronavirus taskforce has pushed back at widespread criticism that the US lacks the testing capacity to end lockdowns and reopen its economy.

Mike Pence, the vice-president, insisted on Friday that there were enough tests to enable states to follow the first phase of federal guidelines released 24 hours earlier. But the coronavirus response coordinator, Dr Deborah Birx, admitted that phase two remained uncertain because of the difficulty of testing people who carry the virus but do not show symptoms.

“Our best scientists and health experts assess that today we have a sufficient amount of testing to meet the requirements of a phase one reopening if state governors should choose to do that,” Pence told reporters in a lengthy briefing dominated by the issue.

Dr Brett Giroir, the assistant secretary for health, added that the US would need to conduct about 4.5m tests each month to safely enter phase one. It is currently carrying out about 1m to 1.2m a week.

Antibody study suggests coronavirus is far more widespread than previously thought Read more

In phase one, the guidelines recommend strict social distancing for all people in public. Gatherings bigger than 10 people are to be avoided, and nonessential travel is discouraged. In phase two, people are encouraged to maximise social distancing and limit gatherings to no more than 50 people unless precautionary measures are taken. Travel could resume.

When Birx was asked whether testing capacity was sufficient for phase two, she replied: “That’s a great question, and what we will be doing is monitoring how much we have to use in phase one to really help inform phase two.”

She admitted: “The real unknown in this, to be completely transparent, is asymptomatic and asymptomatic spread, and so if we find that there’s a lot of asymptomatic individuals that we find in this active monitoring in what we are very much concerned about, the most vulnerable, then we will have to have increased testing to cover all of those sites.”

Pence also emphasised that states, not the federal government, would have to take responsibility for testing programmes. The absence of a national testing strategy is seen by critics as an attempt by the White House to avoid blame if problems arise.

Pence said: “As the president’s made clear, we want governors and states to manage the testing operations in their states. We’ve given criteria, we’ve given guidance for how we think that would best operate, but we’re looking for the states, we’re looking for the governors to manage it.”

Donald Trump himself tweeted on Friday, “The States have to step up their TESTING!”, while also being accused of fomenting rightwing protests against lockdown measures in three states led by Democratic governors.

Facebook Twitter Pinterest White House coronavirus response coordinator Deborah Birx: ‘The really unknown is asymptomatic and asymptomatic spread.’ Photograph: Alex Wong/Getty Images

With the US death toll now topping 32,000, Pence told the briefing that 3.7m tests had been conducted nationwide. Birx was working to identify additional testing capacity, he added, and the taskforce believed states could double it by activating existing laboratories.

But Dr Anthony Fauci, director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, admitted that there had been failings. He told reporters: “It was a problem that was a technical problem from within that was corrected and it was an issue of embracing, the way we have now, and should have, the private sector who clearly has the capability of making and providing tests at the level that we will need them.”

Governors, members of Congress and public health experts have argued that testing should be more widespread and that the federal government needs to provide more resources.

Dr Megan Ranney, an emergency physician and associate professor at Brown University, told the Associated Press: “There are places that have enough test swabs, but not enough workers to administer them. There are places that are limiting tests because of the CDC [Centers for Disease Control] criteria on who should get tested. There’s just so many inefficiencies and problems with the way that testing currently happens across this country.”

There are complaints from hospitals and state health departments that they are being forced into a bidding war against each other for swabs, equipment and chemicals manufactured in China necessary to carry out tests. Andrew Cuomo, the governor of New York, said: “The federal government cannot wipe their hands of this and say, ‘Oh, the states are responsible for testing.’ I don’t do China relations. I don’t do international supply chain.”

On Friday, Trump was also asked fresh questions about claims that Covid-19 escaped from a virology lab in the Chinese city of Wuhan and again, in a rambling answer, he fanned the flames of speculation. “We are looking at it. A lot of people are looking at it. It seems to make sense.”