COLUMBUS, Ohio — Health officials across the country have expressed ongoing concern that coronavirus testing remains limited.
Ohio is experiencing that same COVID-19 testing struggle.
Gov. Mike DeWine was on NBC’s Meet the Press Sunday morning making a plea to the FDA in an effort to increase testing abilities in Ohio.
“I could probably double – maybe even triple – testing in Ohio virtually overnight if the FDA would prioritize companies that are putting a slightly different formula together for the extraction reagent kit,” Gov. DeWine told moderator Chuck Todd. “We have a worldwide shortage of some of the materials that go into this. We really need help. If anybody in the FDA is watching, this would really take our capacity up literally, Chuck, overnight. That’s what we need in Ohio.”
Hours after his comments on Meet the Press, DeWine tweeted that he received "a very positive phone call" from the FDA, but offered no additional information about that call.
Vice President Mike Pence, who is leading the White House coronavirus task force, also appeared on Meet the Press Sunday, where he said 150,000 tests are being done across the U.S. every day.
"If states around the country will activate all of the laboratories that are available in their states, we could more than double that overnight.”
House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, however, appeared on Fox News Sunday where she said President Trump gets an "F" on the testing response.
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