The battle to contain the coronavirus has been lost in states like New York and California – both now under shelter-at-home orders – so health officials are planning to prioritize coronavirus testing resources to healthcare workers and those requiring hospitalization.
Among the near-25,000 confirmed coronavirus cases in the U.S., almost half (11,645) are in New York state, according to the latest data complied at Worldometer.
"Not every single person in the U.S. needs to get tested," Dr. Anthony Fauci, director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, said Saturday at the daily coronavirus task force briefing at the White House. "When you go in and get tested, you are consuming personal protective equipment, masks and gowns — those are high priority for the healthcare workers who are taking care of people who have coronavirus disease.
"We want to make sure that the people who are taking care of people with coronavirus disease do not endanger themselves because they do not have the protective personal equipment," he added.
States expecting a ramping up of coronavirus patients are now entering the next phase in the response to the global pandemic, putting its supplies and testing resources on saving lives at hospitals, The Washington Post reported.
A broad push for the general public to get tested is being curtailed to focus on keeping the conserving masks, ventilators, and intensive-care beds to save lives.
Every test for coronavirus requires a fresh gown, mask, and gloves for the administrator of the test, health experts on the coronavirus task force warn.
"In a universe where masks and gowns are starting to become scarce, every time we test someone who doesn't need one, we're taking that mask and gown away from someone in the intensive-care unit," deputy commissioner for the Division of Disease Control of the New York City Department of Health and Mental Hygiene Demetre Daskalakis told the Post.
It is time to "pivot" in U.S. testing strategy, according to Jeff Engel, executive director of the Council of State and Territorial Epidemiologists.
"If you have mild illness and can stay at home," Engel told the Post, adding "don't get tested."
"You're not only putting others at risk if you go out and about with symptoms, you're wasting all these valuable resources we really need to conserve for society."
In a letter Thursday, Los Angeles County health officials advised doctors testing "is shifting from a strategy of case containment to slowing disease transmission and averting excess morbidity and mortality," the Post reported.
Washington state has been the deadliest state in the U.S., where 83 of the 290 coronavirus deaths have occurred.
Its attempts to save lives require those with mild symptoms to avoid hospitals, doctors office, and flooding the testing labs.
"We've asked the public to understand we can't test everyone, especially if they have mild symptoms or are asymptomatic," health officer for Seattle and King County Jeff Duchin told the Post.
Eric Mack ✉
Eric Mack has been a writer and editor at Newsmax since 2016. He is a 1998 Syracuse University journalism graduate and a New York Press Association award-winning writer.
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