The White House release new coronavirus guidance on testing on Monday, which were two documents that outline the work the Trump administration has done and the blueprint for states to further develop and implement testing strategies. Seen as the White House's response to criticism for lack of widespread testing, the government has begun focusing on reopening the country and is leaving the testing up to the states.
The first document, the testing overview, outlines eight responsibilities that it says belong to the federal government, with the Trump administration claiming they have already completed seven of the steps.
Under the testing blueprint, states would be primarily responsible for testing, with the federal government acting as "a supplier of last resort." In addition, the federal government with not focus on testing nationwide, but only on particularly vulnerable areas, like nursing homes and inner city health centers.
"We are continuing to rapidly expand our [testing] capacity and confident that we have enough testing to begin reopening and the reopening process," President Donald Trump stated form the White House Rose Garden on Monday. "We're deploying the full power and strength of the federal government to help states, cities, to help local governments get this horrible plague over with and over with fast."
The World Health Organization stated that the United States is facing a "difficult situation" as it navigates the coronavirus differently state by state. "I think that the United States has been dealing for a while with a complex situation," Dr. Mike Ryan, executive director of the agency's emergencies program stated during the W.H.O. coronavirus press conference on Monday. "It's a very large country, 50 states, each one with different populations, with different levels of urbanization and the epidemic at different levels of development and evolution in each of those."
The W.H.O. commended the Trump administration for issuing federal guidelines like "Opening Up America Again" plan, which outlines three phases of reopening that are based on factors like new daily infections and hospital capacity.
Yet, the federal guidelines can only work well if states follow them as they begin to restart their economies individually, as states are not legally required to follow the White House's instructions. Currently, the United States has the highest number of confirmed cases at almost 1 million and deaths at over 56,000 compared to the rest of the world.
Total Confirmed Cases: Over 3 Million
Total Deaths: At Least 219,000
Total Recovered: At Least 991,000
Social Distancing Innovations
CVS
"Our new drone delivery service will help CVS provide safe and efficient deliveries or medicines to this large retirement community, enabling residents to receive medications without leaving their homes," Scott Price, UPS chief strategy and transformation officer, stated in a press release. "UPS is committed to playing its part in fighting COVID-19, and this is another way we can support our healthcare customers and individuals with innovative solutions."
New Symptoms
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention added six new symptoms of the novel coronavirus to its list on Monday. As doctors and scientists begin to learn more about the possible indicators of COVID-19, the CDC has added chills, repeated shaking with chills, muscle pain, headache, sore throat and unexplained loss of taste or smell. The CD.C.'s previous list of symptoms included fever, cough and shortness of breath or difficulty breaving.
The new C.D.C. list differs from the one offered by the World Health Organization. The W.H.O. lists the most common symptoms as fever, dry cough and tiredness. The W.H.O. also notes that "some patients may have aches and pains, nasal congestion, sore throat or diarrhea."
