The United States will have the capability to test some as many as 50 million people a month for the coronavirus by September, Assistant Secretary for Health Adm. Brett Giroir said Tuesday at a Senate HELP Committee hearing, Politico reported.
He added that about 25-30 million of those would come from "point of care" tests that can be analyzed in hospitals and doctors' offices.
"We project that our nation will be capable of performing at least 40 to 50 million tests per month if needed at that time," Giroir said, which is approximately four times the goal of 12.9 million tests by the end of May the administration set earlier this week.
Giroir did not directly answer questions from the committee's ranking member, Democratic Sen. Patty Murray, about whether the administration would provide hard numbers and targets in a strategic testing plan required by the CARES Act stimulus package.
However, he said testing needs would increase as the nation eased the lockdown, saying "We expect those targets to go up as we progressively open.” He stressed that “Certainly, those numbers will need to go up significantly again in the fall when we potentially have influenza circulating with Covid.”
Murray harshly criticized the government’s response to the virus, saying "This administration has had a record of giving us broken promises that more tests and supplies are coming and they don't."
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