Trump blames Obama for Coronavirus testing kit shortage

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President Donald Trump blamed his predecessor for a nationwide shortage of test kits for the novel coronavirus and claimed to have ended regulations put in place by Barack Obama’s administration that limited the development of the diagnostic tools.

“The Obama administration made a decision on testing that turned out to be very detrimental to what we’re doing and we undid that decision a few days ago so that the testing can take place in a much more accurate and rapid fashion,” Trump said at a meeting on Wednesday at the White House to discuss the coronavirus outbreak with airline executives.

He added: “That was a decision we disagreed with -- I don’t think we would have made it -- but for some reason it was made but we’ve undone that decision.”

While Trump tried to pin blame on Obama, the initial responsibility for the shortage appears to lie with the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Rather than adopt a test used overseas and recommended by the World Health Organization, the CDC chose to develop and distribute its own, according to reporting by ProPublica. That test didn’t work, forcing a scramble by the Trump administration for alternatives.

On Saturday, the FDA issued a policy allowing independent labs to begin using coronavirus tests they develop even before the health agency signs off on what’s called an Emergency Use Authorization. Shortly before Trump was inaugurated, the Obama administration issued guidance on Emergency Use Authorizations, which date to a 2004 law passed after the U.S. anthrax attacks.

Experts on lab testing said they were unaware of any Obama-era rule that would have hindered the administration from authorizing lab-developed tests for the coronavirus in an emergency. The FDA has had the authority to authorize tests for emergency use under the 2004 law, signed by President George W. Bush, aimed at advancing medical countermeasures for biological weapons.

“We cannot find a basis for this,” said Peter Kyriacopoulos, chief policy officer for the Association of Public Health Laboratories, which represents state and local laboratories. “We are not familiar with the rule they are referring to.”

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