The failure by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention to quickly produce a test kit for detecting the novel coronavirus was triggered by a glaring scientific breakdown at the CDC’s central laboratory complex in Atlanta, according to scientists with knowledge of the matter and a determination by federal regulators.
“The Trump administration’s testing for the coronavirus has been severely inadequate,” said the chairman of the House Oversight and Reform Committee, Rep. Carolyn B. Maloney (D-N.Y.). “If you don’t test people, then you have no idea how many people are infected.”
“We don’t know where to direct resources,” she said. “We are operating in the dark.”
