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How To Get Tested For COVID-19 & The Test Kit Disaster That Could've Been Prevented

Smiley N. Pool / AP
Office manager Kristy Castillo talks with a patient as cars line up for drive-thru coronavirus testing at a location in Dallas. An increasing number of Bay Area locations are offering tests.

On this edition of Your Call, we’re discussing how and where people in the Bay Area can get tested for COVID-19. Later in the show, we’ll discuss the overwhelming requests for test kits across the country. As the country ramps up testing, the number of cases will drastically increase, according to public health officials.

What explains the slow rollout? According to a new Washington Post investigation, as other countries rolled out tens of thousands of tests, the CDC’s effort in the US stalled for six critical weeks from mid-January until the end of February. What could have been done differently and how can the testing backlog be resolved?

Guests:

Catherine Ho, health reporter for the San Francisco Chronicle

 

Neena Satija, investigative reporter for The Washington Post

Web Resources:

SF Chronicle:Bay Area coronavirus tests: Where can I get one?

NPR: Testing Swabs Run In Short Supply As Makers Try To Speed Up Production

ProPublica:How South Korea Scaled Coronavirus Testing While the U.S. Fell Dangerously Behind

Washington Post:How U.S. coronavirus testing stalled: Flawed tests, red tape and resistance to using the millions of tests produced by the WHO