DC says supply shortfalls limiting tests to less than half capacity

The District of Columbia could more than double the number of coronavirus tests it is performing per day if it were not limited by shortages of key supplies, officials said Monday. 

LaQuandra Nesbitt, director of the DC Department of Health, said at a news briefing with Mayor Muriel Bowser (D) that the eight labs in the District have the capacity to perform 3,700 tests per day, but are limited to less than half that because of a shortage of a chemical needed to conduct the tests, called reagent. 

“Unfortunately, through a number of challenges in the supply chain for reagents, they are limited to only being able to process about 1,500 tests per day,” Nesbitt said. 

She noted that problems with other supplies, like swabs and protective equipment for health workers, are also an issue. 

The numbers out of the District are the latest example of testing supplies shortfalls nationwide that are preventing labs from running at full capacity.

Several governors have been urging President Trump for weeks to more fully use the powers of the federal government to increase production of key supplies. Experts say U.S. testing capacity needs to dramatically increase for the economy to safely reopen. 

Trump last week announced he would use the Defense Production Act to increase production of swabs.

The president has not used his authority under that same law to ramp up production of reagents.

“Reagents and swabs are so easy to get,” Trump said when asked about them last week.