Will the United States soon know the real extent of the coronavirus pandemic in the country? After a series of contradictory statements in recent days, US President Donald Trump announced on Friday March 13 a state of national emergency to deal with the Covid-19 epidemic, which, according to official figures, has affected some 1,800 people and killed 49.
This decision frees up $ 50 billion (45 billion euros) to fight the spread of the disease and help the most affected states. It should notably speed up the implementation of screening tests, a black point of the strategy implemented by the Trump administration in recent weeks, but for which the president declined on Friday, all " responsibility ".
Evoking his personal case, the tenant of the White House, however, illustrated the confusion that reigns on this subject at the highest level of his administration: after having excluded from undergoing a screening test, while he was in contact with people with the virus in recent days – "I have no symptoms", he argued – Donald Trump finally admitted a few minutes later that he was going " probably " get tested.
During his press conference, the American president surrounded himself with managers of supermarket chains, who will make their parking lots available to carry out these tests on patients installed in their cars, a practice implemented in South Korea and in Germany, in particular. Mr. Trump had also invited representatives from private laboratories, now authorized to perform these analyzes.
Towards a sharp increase in the number of cases detected
The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has indeed made it possible to market faster screening equipment, created by the Roche company, and available in around 100 laboratories across the country. The president has generally promised less than "Regulations" to facilitate access to testing for those who need it. A patient will no longer need to be prescribed by a doctor to do this.
So far, due to the lack of screening kits available and the lack of strong political will to remedy the shortage, only some 11,000 people have been tested in the United States – several thousand are tested every day in South Korea. In this context, American public health experts have acknowledged for several days that they do not have a clear idea of the seriousness of the spread of the coronavirus in the country.
