The Trump admin. is planning to end its funding and support at the end of the month for 13 coronavirus testing sites located in 5 states: Illinois, New Jersey, Colorado, Pennsylvania, and Texas.
A spokesperson for Texas Republican Sen. Ted Cruz said he “has urged and will continue to urge HHS and FEMA to extend the community testing sites in Texas.”
Rocky Vaz — the director of emergency management for Dallas, Texas — said that the city has “a plan and the capacity to continue testing.” But public health experts note that as states assume responsibility for these testing sites, it could complicate contact-tracing and other mitigation efforts. Brett Giroir, the assistant HHS secretary for health, said a statement: “The federal government is not ending funding or support for COVID-19 testing sites. On the contrary, we have expanded from the original 41 sites to over 600 in 48 states and the District of Columbia in the federal bundled payment program to pharmacies, and enabled over 1400 additional pharmacy sites through regulatory flexibility empowering pharmacists and facilitating billing and reimbursement.
"HHS will continue to increase testing capacity overall, and make it more accessible especially to underserved communities," the statement said.
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