The US federal government, much criticized for its inaction in the face of the current outbreak of the Covid-19 pandemic, announced on Tuesday some free screening sites in homes where hospitalizations related to coronavirus are on the rise.
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Donald Trump downplays the constantly breaking records on the number of new cases per day, attributing them to an excess of tests, but multiple health officials, at federal and especially local levels, judge the situation serious and the strategy current a failure.
Even though the number of tests has increased to around 600,000 per day in the country, according to the Covid Tracking Project, they are deemed insufficient in multiple regions to detect all infected and contagious people, especially among young people who are less likely to get sick. In the South, the number of tests is increasing but the rate of positive results also, reaching 12% recently, against 1.7% in the North-East, according to the Covid Tracking Project.
Three cities will receive temporary federal screening sites for 5 to 12 days, which will be able to perform 5,000 tests per day and per city: Jacksonville in Florida, Baton Rouge in Louisiana, and Edinburg in Texas. The aim is to detect asymptomatic cases as a priority, especially in those under 30 years of age. " The Trump administration doubles the bet to support the areas most affected by Covid-19, " said Health Secretary Alex Azar.
These three cities are seeing an increase in the number of contagions and hospitalizations, but the virus is currently actively circulating in dozens of others in the south and west of the country. A total of 40 of the 50 states are currently recording an increase in the number of cases detected.