Coronavirus

Trump Administration Says Testing Responsibility Falls On States

The administration submitted its 81-page "Covid-19 Strategic Testing Plan" to Congress on Sunday.

Trump Administration Says Testing Responsibility Falls On States
Morgan Lee / AP
SMS

The Trump administration says the responsibility of coronavirus testing falls on each individual state. 

The administration submitted its 81-page "Covid-19 Strategic Testing Plan" to Congress on Sunday. 

In that report, which was obtained by media outlets, the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services said states must "establish a robust testing program that ensures adequacy of Covid-19 testing, including tests for contact tracing, and surveillance of asymptomatic persons to determine community spread."

The report says the administration wants states to test a "minimum of 2%" of their populations this and next month. It also said the U.S. will be able to conduct 40-50 million tests each month by September. 

The report said the federal government would buy 100 million testing swabs and vials and distribute them to states before the end of the year. 

Top congressional Democrats are pushing back against the report. They argue that there needs to be "clear explanations for how targets were set, how they will be met and what will be done if they are not."

Contains footage from CNN