COVID19 Update - Day 162

US Tests: 68,944,867*

US Cases: 5,502,927*

US Deaths: 165,011*

Worldwide Cases: 22,262,946*

Worldwide Deaths: 784,107*

* - Numbers are a lower bound.  True numbers are being suppressed by the Trump administration

Merely incompetent, not corrupt.  That is how to categorize today's example of Trump administration malfeasance:

As he sought answers, Wasserman encountered an HHS program to surge rapid, point-of-care COVID-19 testing machines to nearly every nursing home in the country. Long awaited by nursing homes, the program relies on a technology called antigen testing that, in its current form, trades accuracy for a 15-minute return on results.  

But the HHS program to distribute the machines has been met with mass confusion stemming from a lack of direction over what to do with the machines and how, or whether, to record and report the results. As a result, some nursing homes have been failing to report the results of tests to state health departments. The tests’ accuracy has also been reduced by operator error, clouding the true spread of COVID-19.

“I have to say, I’m not impressed that they basically sent us machines without clear direction on how to use them, and without clear direction to state and county health departments,” Wasserman said. 

Wasserman is not alone in his concern. 

“HHS needs to own that — they’ve got to send out [the testing machines] with explicit responsibilities for reporting results to public health authorities and technical assistance so it actually happens,” said Dr. Jeffrey Engel, a senior advisor on COVID-19 and executive at the Council of State and Territorial Epidemiologists. 

“We’ve been asking for federal guidance all along, these nursing homes have very limited capacity, and to expect them to ramp up and do this — something that they’ve never done before — is not realistic and could be potentially harmful,” Engel told TPM.

As always --- heck of a job, Trumpie!