After weeks of governors pushing for expanded coronavirus testing, the White House says it’s delivering.
President Trump announced Monday his administration will distribute $11 billion in additional funding and supplies to states and territories to help them ramp up testing.
The Food and Drug Administration also announced Monday it issued emergency-use authorization for a new antigen test.
It’s supposed to provide results in just minutes.
But the FDA warns it has a higher chance of false negatives.
California-based Quidel is the only company authorized to produce the antigen tests right now. But the FDA says it expects more to follow.
The mounting economic fallout from the coronavirus pandemic is prompting nearly all states across the country to ease up on their stay-at-home orders.
Even the hardest-hit state, New York.
The coronavirus has now claimed more than 80,000 lives in the U.S. out of the more than 1.3 million confirmed cases.
New York, which still has the highest case count and death toll, plans to partially lift its mandatory stay-at home order by the end of this week.
“It’s been a crisis, and a painful one, but we’re coming out of the other side,” Gov. Andrew Cuomo said. “So, to turn to reopening, because we have abated the worst by what we’ve done, and now we can intelligently turn towards reopening. And that’s May 15th. That’s this Friday.”
As New York moves forward, new analysis from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention shows from mid-March to early May, New York City had about 5,300 more coronavirus deaths than previously reported.
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