78 Public & Private Labs Approved To Test For Coronavirus On Monday, CDC Says

US stocks are heading back toward their lows of the session as President Trump’s response to the outbreak remains outright denial, blaming the “fake news” and pointing out that the flu killed more people last year…

So last year 37,000 Americans died from the common Flu. It averages between 27,000 and 70,000 per year. Nothing is shut down, life & the economy go on. At this moment there are 546 confirmed cases of CoronaVirus, with 22 deaths. Think about that!

— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) March 9, 2020

…while rumors about fiscal stimulus haven’t been convincing enough (we assume we’ll hear something more concrete after Trump meets with his economic team, including Mnuchin, this afternoon).

But if you’re looking for some vaguely positive news, here it is – with one catch: The CDC has confirmed that 78 labs across the country have been certified to conduct as many as 75,000 coronavirus tests each. Dr. Nancy Messonnier, director of the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s National Center for Immunization and Respiratory Diseases, said Monday during a briefing that the 78 public and commercial labs had been certified to carry out coronavirus tests.

Over the weekend, several experts and state governors, most visibly NY Gov. Andrew Cuomo, took the CDC and FDA to task for failing to authorize private laboratories to test for the novel coronavirus, and for failing to authorize automated testing. The FDA gave its approval for Northwell Health Laboratories in Lake Success – out on Long Island – to start testing, and it will now be testing 75 to 80 samples a day as the most advanced lab in the state.

“After days of advocating the FDA and the federal government to expand testing capacity for the novel coronavirus in New York State and working with Northwell and [the state lab at] Wadsworth to expedite the process, we just received word that Northwell Laboratories has been authorized to test under Wadsworth’s emergency use authorization,” Cuomo said Saturday. “Manual testing of 75 to 80 samples per day will begin at Northwell immediately, but we still need automated testing approved so we can perform thousands per day.”

The CDC’s refusal to publish data about the number of coronavirus tests carried out across the country angered millions of Americans earlier this month, and a report on Friday confirming that the US had run fewer than 2,000 tests since the beginning of the outbreak seemed to confirm fears that the administration had been caught flat-footed despite the lengthy lead time to prepare for the virus to hit.

According to an update to the CDC’s website, Washington, DC is also able to test for the virus, in addition to all 50 states. Meanwhile, the CDC said Guam, Puerto Rico and Virgin Islands are in the process of securing an approval.

And while VP Pence, who is leading the White House task force guiding the coronavirus response, promised during an appearance on Fox News in an interview that aired Saturday night that the US would have more tests available “soon” and that two major commercial labs would have testing online as soon as Monday, according to Fox News.

Pence explained the tests consist of a cotton swab of the nose for gathering samples that can be examined for the presence of the virus, and assured viewers the administration has focused on making tests available since the moment the outbreak hit the country.

“And I want your viewers to know that as we’ve been ramping up the tests, since the coronavirus first really came ashore in the United States, that we’ve been focusing tests at the point of the need where states have requested them,” Pence said. “State labs said they needed them, and particularly in the Seattle area and in parts of California that have seen multiple coronavirus cases and tragically, families that have seen the loss of life.”

Messonnier added on Monday that “commercially available” tests might soon outnumber the tests produced by the government.

“The number of commercially available tests is much larger than that and our expectation within the next couple weeks, as more and more commercial entities come on board, is that the majority of the available testing will actually be from the commercial sector,” Messonnier said.

Then again, pretty soon, Americans might be getting their coronavirus tests by Bill Gates.

Of course, the big question when it comes to US testing capabilities remains: Will increased testing instill confidence that the US is doing what it needs to contain the epidemic? Or will the new case numbers spook stocks even lower?