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About East Oregonian : E.O. (Pendleton, OR) 1888-current | View Entire Issue (April 21, 2020)
A8 NATION East Oregonian Tuesday, April 21, 2020 Trump: Governors play ‘political game’ with virus tests By ALAN SUDERMAN, JOHN HANNA AND JILL COLVIN Associated Press WASHINGTON — A chorus of governors from both parties pushed back hard Monday after Presi- dent Donald Trump accused Democrats of playing “a very dangerous political game” by insisting there is a shortage of tests for the coronavirus. The governors countered that the White House must do more to help states do the testing that’s needed before they can ease up on stay-at- home orders. Kansas’s Democratic Gov. Laura Kelly said the current federal effort “really is not good enough if we’re going to be able to start to open our economy. We can- not do that safely without the tests in place.” The plea for stepped-up coordination came on the latest day when the Trump administration provided dis- cordant messaging: Trump blasted state leaders on Twit- ter for being too depen- dent on federal government, while Vice President Mike AP Photo/Patrick Semansky Vice President Mike Pence speaks during a coronavirus task force briefi ng at the White House on Sunday in Washington. Pence assured governors the government was work- ing around-the-clock to help them ramp up testing. Pence sought to soften the administration’s message amid growing clamor from governors of both parties for a national testing strategy to help secure in-demand sup- plies like testing swabs and chemical reagents. Trump said Sunday that he could use the Defense Production Act to compel one company to manufacture swabs. “When it comes to test- ing, we’re here to help,” Pence told governors during a videoconference from the headquarters of the Fed- eral Emergency Manage- ment Agency. The Associ- ated Press obtained audio of the call. Pence said the adminis- tration sent an email to offi - cials on Monday detailing current testing capacity by state. But Maryland’s Repub- lican Gov. Larry Hogan said much of the unused lab machinery listed for his state by the administration was in federal labs that the state does not have access to. Pence agreed to open up fed- eral labs to help states. In Kansas, offi cials have said they would like to do 15,500 additional tests to sample the population to determine the prevalence of the coronavirus. Kansas has about half the national test- ing rate. Kelly said part of the problem has been caused by how FEMA has gone about distributing testing material and other supplies. In Ohio, Republican Gov. Mike DeWine said his state is working with another fed- eral agency, the Food and Drug Administration, to fi nd a source of reagent, the chemical used to analyze test results, so it can ramp up testing. “A lot of good things are going on, but we’re not there yet,” DeWine said. “And we’ve got a ways to go Democratic Montana Gov. Steve Bullock said his state received 5,000 nasal swabs on Monday from FEMA — evidence the fed- eral government is listening. But he added: “It doesn’t get us far enough.” In New York, Demo- cratic Gov. Andrew Cuomo, whom Trump has vacillated between praising and criti- cizing, said the states should take the lead on testing but it’s up to the federal govern- ment to help sort out supply chain issues facing testing manufacturers. “What the states will run into is when you talk to those labs ... they buy machines and equipment from national manufacturers,” Cuomo said. “And those labs can only run as many tests as the national manufacturers provide them chemicals, reagents and lab kits.” Pennsylvania’s Demo- cratic Gov. Tom Wolf said, “We need the reagents, we need the test kits and I think that’s the sort of general cry from other states.” From Michigan, Demo- cratic Gov. Gretchen Whit- mer said, “Robust testing is essential to have confi - dence about our strategies for safely reducing risk and reengaging sectors of our economy. We’re all needing swabs. We’re all needing the reagents.” Feds to track, share information on nursing home outbreaks By CANDICE CHOI Associated Press NEW YORK — Calling nursing homes ground zero of the coronavirus crisis, federal offi cials said Mon- day they plan to start track- ing and publicly sharing information on infections and deaths in such facilities to help spot trends and early signs the virus is spreading in communities. The move comes as crit- ics, industry offi cials and local leaders have called for more aggressive actions by the federal government to track infections in homes and contain outbreaks by helping them get greater access to testing and masks, especially given the vulnera- bility of elderly residents. “It’s our intention to make that information pub- lic,” Seema Verma, head of the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services, said during a call with reporters, adding that details were still being worked out on when or how the information would be distributed. Because the federal gov- ernment has not been releas- ing a count of its own, The Associated Press has been keeping its own tally from media reports and state health departments, fi nding at least 8,426 deaths linked to coronavirus outbreaks in nursing homes and long-term care facilities nationwide. But the true toll of the mostly frail and elderly peo- ple who live in such facil- ities is likely much higher, experts say, because many homes have not reported their deaths and state counts may not include those who died without ever being tested. For the federal tracking of infections, Verma said homes could start report- ing by the end of this week and that questionnaires from the U.S. Centers for Dis- ease Control and Prevention will collect information on deaths as well as confi rmed and suspected cases, includ- ing among workers. She also said nursing homes will also be required to tell patients and family members within 12 hours of a confi rmed infection. Verma noted that that federal surveillance of out- breaks at nursing homes will be important for reopen- ing the country since infec- tions in the homes could be early predictors of spread in communities. “It’s fair to say nursing homes have been ground zero” for the virus, Verma said, noting that the Life Care Center nursing home in Washington state became the fi rst COVID-19 hot spot in the U.S.. That outbreak eventually claimed 43 lives. Some of the biggest out- breaks since have included 55 deaths at a nursing home in New York City’s Brooklyn borough, 49 at a home out- side Richmond, Virginia, 48 at a veteran’s home in Holy- oke, Massachusetts, and at least 40 deaths each at fi ve homes in outer boroughs of New York City. Experts say the out- breaks have been fueled by the industry’s chronic chal- lenges with controlling infections and staffi ng short- ages. Several major out- breaks have been blamed on asymptomatic spread- ers who made it past screen- ing measures, such as daily temperature checks for staff- ers that nursing homes were ordered to put in place in mid-March. Mark Parkinson of the American Health Care Asso- ciation, which represents nursing homes and assisted living facilities, said he hopes federal offi cials will use the data they collect to identify where to prioritize badly needed resources like testing and masks for resi- dents and workers. “The country was so focused on making sure that hospitals were fully equipped and ready for a surge of admissions, we were really left behind,” he said. Tiny Micro-Chip Now In The Ear: Available! Now You See It... Now You Don’t! 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