The Question the CDC Won't Answer About Coronavirus Testing

[babylonsister]

https://www.rollingstone.com/politics/politics-news/question-cdc-who-no-coronavirus-testing-965279/


March 10, 2020 4:22PM ET
The Question the CDC Won’t Answer About Coronavirus Testing
Why hasn’t the Trump administration embraced a reliable test made available by the World Health Organization?
By Tim Dickinson


snip//


In the United States, a primary stumbling block to widespread testing has been the stubborn decision by the CDC to stick to its own, flawed testing methods. CDC rolled out a coronavirus test in February, out only to discover a problem with one of the reagents critical to the test’s reliability. Yet as the CDC has scrambled to fix its test, another functioning test has been available. WHO has successfully provided a competing German-developed test to countries across the world, allowing them to better trace the spread of the virus — not only confirming cases in obviously sick patients, but tracking down contacts who may have a mild form of the illness but can still spread it to others.

In a letter last week to Vice President Mike Pence, the administration’s point person on coronavirus, Senator Patty Murray — who serves Washington, the state hardest hit by the outbreak — demanded answers: “We need to understand what is going wrong around testing,” she wrote. “And the lack of transparency from the Administration so far is unacceptable.”

Murray’s letter asked the Trump administration to: “Please provide an explanation for why the COVID-19 diagnostic test approved by the World Health Organization was not used.”

On Friday, Rolling Stone asked the CDC to answer the same question about the WHO test. We also sought information on potential conflicts of interest — including whether the CDC’s test was developed in house, or the work of a contractor. We asked for a list of all contractors who had a financial interest in providing the agency with reagents and other components of the test. Despite multiple followups, the CDC has not responded.

Reached today, a CDC media staffer said that the agency was overwhelmed with press requests and was working through its backlog. Our questions, she said, were in the queue.

Under the Trump administration, it seems, the truth is also being rationed.

[scarletwoman]

1. "Under the Trump administration, it seems, the truth is also being rationed."

Of course truth is being rationed - having always been in extremely short supply to begin with.

[Mike 03]

2. There's a huge fucking scandal here, I just KNOW it.

Somebody in this administration is getting rich off this pandemic at our expense.

We can't forget this. We need to follow up on this.

Contact your senators and demand answers to these questions!

“Please provide an explanation for why the COVID-19 diagnostic test approved by the World Health Organization was not used.”

We also sought information on potential conflicts of interest — including whether the CDC’s test was developed in house, or the work of a contractor. We asked for a list of all contractors who had a financial interest in providing the agency with reagents and other components of the test.

[malaise]

3. Because his friends have to make money

making their own tests

[FreeState]

4. Himself included

According to the Associated Press, Donald Trump, the current President of the United States who is supposed to be managing the Coronavirus epidemic and how the testing is conducted, has listed investments in V.F. Corp (VFC) and Thermo Fisher Scientific Corporation (TMO), both of which moved jobs out of the U.S. in high profile outsourcing deals. There is reason to believe that Donald Trump stands to profit from medical testing of coronavirus that will now take place in the United States.

https://shero.substack.com/p/trump-could-profit-from-coronavirus

[Mike 03]

6. Thank you for finding this.

[malaise]

7. That should make conflict of interest #3001

Thanks - great link

[crickets]

9. This! You're quicker than I am. ;)

[crickets]

8. And likely he gets a cut of the action every time.

Trump may be profiting from new Covid-19 test kit maker, Thermo Fisher Scientific Corp
https://www.democraticunderground.com/100213060533

[malaise]

10. Just saw that

This fucker is corrupt on steroids

[Mike 03]

5. Just wrote to my Dem Senator Kyrsten Sinema

asking her (pleading with her) to home in like RADAR on answering these two key questions.

If this turns out to be the scandal it looks like, this is one of the WORST things this stupid ass president has ever done and he and anyone else complicit need to be punished SEVERELY.

[Mike 03]

11. Read this and try not to have a stroke

In Nov. 2017, a state banquet was held in Trump’s honor during a visit to China, where more than two dozen business titans were in attendance. One of the attendees was Gianluca Pettiti, President for Thermo Fisher Scientific China. The point of the dinner, according to sources, was for the White House to “home in” on companies that could announce “done deals” that would have the effect of chipping away at the U.S. trade deficit with China. But, considering the presence of Thermo Fisher Scientific and Trump’s previous (and possibly ongoing) personal financial relationship with the company, the guest list looks highly suspect.

Virologists in Berlin produced the first diagnostic test for the Coronavirus a month and a half before the first COVID-19 case not linked to travel was diagnosed in the United States. The World Health Organization (WHO) began shipping coronavirus testing supplies to nearly 60 countries by February, but Trump didn’t want those kits.

The United States declined to use the WHO test, even temporarily as a bridge until the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention could produce its own test and the Trump administration has given no explanation as to why. Trump’s possible interest in the company that the U.S. will be using to provide the tests and the fact that if he might still own stock in Thermo Fisher Scientific and world stand to profit from the government contract, could be a major reason why no other tests were accepted.

https://shero.substack.com/p/trump-could-profit-from-coronavirus

FreeState (above) provided this link.

[ashredux]

12. FOLLOW. THE. MONEY

Who got the contract and who has stock in the company. It is alway about the Money with Trump

[KY_EnviroGuy]

13. Not trying to be contrarian but just asking.....

don't all medical devices and test protocols/kits have to go through some degree of testing and approval by the FDA, just like drugs?

Or, a better question might be: what authority in the U.S. would be responsible for certifying any such test as safe and viable prior to use in our healthcare system?

KY.........

[GeorgeGist]

14. Redfield is a buffoon ...

which is why Trump chose him.

[uponit7771]

15. K&R, China reported CV19 genetic sequence on Jan 12!! We still don't have WHO's mass test kits !!

[rickyhall]

16. Republican Logic

The more people who die means fewer SS, Medicare & Medicaid recipients.
What they don't get is Repug voters.

[uponit7771]

17. +1, also means fewer blue voters

[rickyhall]

18. That's true but there are more of them than trumpers & probably in better shape.

And those who don't vote might be more likely to do so.