And a majority of the tests we have done so far came up negative. And we had the ability to do a few more tests.
A miscommunication made states think they were not allowed to send samples into CDC. CDC never had a rule against samples, and as CDC has said — NO sample was ever refused. They have now made it clear to everybody that testing can be requested and will be done.
Not that it matters now — every state is now prepped to do testing themselves, so if you doctor tells you you cannot be tested, that is a state problem; more likely the doctor is doing standard doctoring and doesn’t believe you are worth wasting a test on.
Testing is now entirely up to doctors, and I suppose insurance companies. Exchange insurance, and medicaid and medicare, will cover testing entirely. i would think that this would also hit every other insurance, but I’ve read some comments that suggest we need the house and senate to do something to make that happen.
But I don’t understand why they did not simply include something in the 8 billion dollar bill that said all CovID testing would be paid for by the federal government for the next 6 months. At the moment, it is entirely in the national interest that we over-test, and so it is a reasonable government expense.
Prior to this weekend, ALL testing had to be subject to CDC criteria.
And that criteria included travel to China and/or known contact with a certified infected person.