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.
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