BECAUSE, LA
LA makes coronavirus tests available to all residents, but many go unused amid nationwide shortage, report
[edited out of order for clarity]Dr. Ashish Jha, director of the Harvard Global Health Institute, has repeatedly said the United States is lacking in adequate testing.
“The city pays $137 per test and 75,000 tests are available each week, but in the two weeks that the mayor expanded testing, only about 57,000 tests have been used on average each week....residents can get tested as frequently as they want, officials have said...Garcetti’s plan to allow any resident in Los Angeles to receive a test was an attempt to make sure that testing kits were not going to waste.
Los Angeles partnered with Curative-Kora, a startup that created a faster and easier way to test for the coronavirus without having to rely on supplies that were scarce or in high demand. The new test got emergency approval by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA), and the tests have been used in Los Angeles since March.
The mayor’s office could not immediately be reached for comment on what they plan to do with the unused testing kits.
CHINA
China confirms US accusations that it destroyed early samples of the novel coronavirus, but says it was done for ‘biosafety reasons’
...Liu Dengfeng, an official with the Chinese National Health Commission’s science and education department, said in a Beijing briefing on Friday that the samples were destroyed to “prevent the risk to laboratory biological safety and prevent secondary disasters caused by unidentified pathogens.”
He insisted that this was not done to cover-up or hide samples from other countries, but was done strictly for biosafety reasons.”The remarks made by some US officials were taken out of context and intended to confuse,” Liu said.
BECAUSE, CALIFORNIA
California city declared a ‘sanctuary’ from stay-home order
Officials in Atwater, a city of 30,000 in central California, unanimously agreed Friday not to enforce the nearly 2-month-old order intended to slow the spread of the coronavirus, meaning local authorities won’t interfere with any business or church that decides to reopen ahead of state restrictions.