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Biden team plots the first national Covid testing strategy

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The widespread testing envisioned by the Biden program is sorely needed to help bring the pandemic to an end.

The Biden administration is preparing to launch the first of several Covid-19 testing hubs to coordinate and oversee a $650 million expansion of testing in K-8 schools and congregate settings like homeless shelters.
 
The Department of Health and Human Services hopes to open the first hub in April, as part of a public-private partnership that could eventually add up to 25 million tests per month to the nation’s testing totals, two sources briefed on the plans told POLITICO. Administration officials discussed details of the program on Tuesday during a call with industry, government agencies and state and local health departments. They held a second industry call on Thursday.
 
The effort is the first attempt at formalizing a national testing strategy — something public-health experts have wanted for months. It comes amid a puzzling drop in the total number of tests recorded in the United States, from nearly 2 million a day in mid-January to about 1.5 million a day now. Public health experts attribute the decline to several factors, including widespread winter storms, increased reliance on point-of-care tests with results that are often not reported to health authorities and pandemic fatigue. The number of new cases is also declining, and the number of Americans who have been vaccinated is climbing.
 
During the Tuesday call organized by HHS, administration officials said the public-private partnership aims to conduct 150,000 tests per week by the end of April without interfering with existing testing supply chain and testing infrastructure.
 
The federal government will begin by creating a list of preferred Covid tests for use in schools and other congregate settings, according to slides presented during one of the HHS calls that were obtained by POLITICO. The administration will seek applications during March from diagnostic manufacturers, commercial labs, academic labs and other health care groups to run four coordinating hubs placed across the U.S. for at least six months. HHS anticipates awarding contracts by March 22.
 
“The coordinating center is going to have the responsibilities of coordinating with states, counties and local school districts on testing efforts for K-8 students within their region and ensure proper testing at laboratories,” HHS Testing & Diagnostic Working Group lead industry officer Steven Santos said on the Tuesday call.
 
Former Trump testing czar Brett Giroir said the idea for a public-private system to coordinate testing in schools dates back last summer. But the plan didn’t get traction until late November or early December — meaning the Trump administration handed off its concept papers to the incoming Biden team.
 
“We just couldn’t get it done in time, it’s a big thing: multiple coordinating centers, you can’t just turn that around in a week or two,” Giroir said. “They definitely added the money to it.”
 
https://www.politico.com/news/2021/03/07/covid-testing-biden-473937