Are There Enough Coronavirus Tests? A Look At The Numbers As States Prepare To Reopen

The Trump administration frequently touts the amount of testing being conducted amid the ongoing coronavirus outbreak, but the U.S. may need to ramp up testing efforts to control the spread of infection.

In the first week of May, the U.S. conducted an average of 250,000 tests a day. Yet, the Harvard Global Health Institute says the U.S. will need to conduct more than 900,000 tests a day as states continue to reopen.

"Testing is 'Outbreak Control 101,' because what testing lets you do is figure out who's infected and who's not," Ashish Jha, the director of the Institute, told NPR. "And that lets you separate out the infected people from the noninfected people and bring the disease under control."

Assistant Secretary of Health Administration Brett Giroir said last month that the U.S. will perform 8 million tests in May. Giroir has refuted Trump’s claim that the U.S. would soon conduct 5 million tests a day, saying it is not feasible given current technology.

Ohio, Vermont and New Hampshire are three states that are reopening non-essential businesses in the next week. In Ohio, for example, retail and consumer services businesses are opening on Tuesday, with outside dining back open Friday.

The United States currently has the most coronavirus cases of any country in the world. As of Sunday at 11:50 a.m., there are 1,312,099 cases of the virus in the U.S., with the domestic death toll standing at 78,862.