Report: Maine officials say White House information on coronavirus testing capacity in state is inaccurate
“When documents like that come out, it’s like everything I’ve been saying for months could get called into question.”
Maine officials are expressing concerns that White House documents on the state’s capacity for coronavirus testing do not reflect the reality on the ground, the Portland Press Herald reports.
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Maine Center for Disease Control and Prevention Director Dr. Nirav Shah said Tuesday during the state’s daily coronavirus briefing that testing still needs to double or even triple the current number of tests being conducted.
But, according to the Press Herald, White House documents shared Monday with governors showing state-by-state testing capacity contained inaccuracies about what is currently being offered in Maine. The inaccuracies included a failure to list a laboratory that conducts testing and a statement that Maine’s Health and Environmental Testing Laboratory has testing equipment that it does not actually have.
“While the administration is still reviewing the document, it does not appear to be accurate and is not representative of testing capacity within Maine – a concern shared by several other governors with respect to their states,” Lindsay Crete, press secretary for Gov. Janet Mills, told the Press Herald.
“During the financial crisis … someone said the only thing you have in a crisis is your credibility and I live by those words,” Shah told the Press Herald on Tuesday, speaking to the inaccuracies. “When documents like that come out, it’s like everything I’ve been saying for months could get called into question.”
The document from the White House showed a map of Maine with about 20 dots representing equipment capable of testing, Shah told the newspaper. While the equipment are necessary pieces in the COVID-19 battle, he said, they are “nowhere close to being sufficient.”
“It would be like going to soccer ball manufacturers and saying, ‘Give me a list of everyone who bought a ball,’ and then concluding that’s the number of professional soccer players,” Shah said.
The head of the state’s CDC said he was concerned that the inaccuracies will cause confusion for Maine residents.
Read the full report at the Press Herald.
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