U.S. Lags the world in testing, leads the world in COVID-19 cases

"The first case of COVID-19 in the United States was diagnosed in Washington state on January 20, 2020i . After 12 weeks, and the appearance of over 600,000 cases of COVID-19 and over 25,000 deaths, the United States still lacks a national testing strategy to reliably and consistently test patients across the country. Instead, states have been forced to respond with limited federal support, leaving a patchwork of testing efforts across the country, limited data on the spread of the disease, and scarce supplies for testing and protection of health care workers.

As of April 14, more than 150,000 people are being tested each day, and more than 2.8 million tests have been performed. This is far below the amount of testing per capita that has been done in other countries..."
COVID-19 and testing

Executive Order on Prioritizing and Allocating Health and Medical Resources to Respond to the Spread of Covid-19

"By the authority vested in me as President by the Constitution and the laws of the United States of America, including the Defense Production Act of 1950, as amended (50 U.S.C. 4501 et seq.) (the “Act”), and section 301 of title 3, United States Code, it is hereby ordered as follows:

Section 1.  Policy and Findings.  On March 13, 2020, I declared a national emergency recognizing the threat that the novel (new) coronavirus known as SARS-CoV-2 poses to our national security.  In recognizing the public health risk, I noted that on March 11, 2020, the World Health Organization announced that the outbreak of COVID-19 (the disease caused by SARS-CoV-2) can be characterized as a pandemic.  I also noted that while the Federal Government, along with State and local governments, have taken preventive and proactive measures to slow the spread of the virus and to treat those affected, the spread of COVID-19 within our Nation’s communities threatens to strain our Nation’s healthcare system.  To ensure that our healthcare system is able to surge capacity and capability to respond to the spread of COVID-19, it is critical that all health and medical resources needed to respond to the spread of COVID-19 are properly distributed to the Nation’s healthcare system and others that need them most at this time.

Accordingly, I find that health and medical resources needed to respond to the spread of COVID-19, including personal protective equipment and ventilators, meet the criteria specified in section 101(b) of the Act (50 U.S.C. 4511(b)).  Under the delegation of authority provided in this order, the Secretary of Health and Human Services may identify additional specific health and medical resources that meet the criteria of section 101(b)..."

Executive order and allocating health resources

List N: Disinfectants for Use Against SARS-CoV-2

"The EPA-registered surface disinfectant products on our Disinfectants for Use Against SARS-CoV-2 list have qualified under EPA's emerging viral pathogen program for use against SARS-CoV-2, a coronavirus that causes COVID-19. Coronaviruses are enveloped viruses, meaning they are one of the easiest types of viruses to kill with the appropriate disinfectant product. 

EPA strongly recommends following the product label use directions for enveloped viruses, as indicated by the approved emerging viral pathogen claim on the master label.

How to Use the List

1. Locate the EPA Registration Number on the disinfectant 
2. Look for that number on List N: Disinfectants for Use Against SARS-CoV-2
3. Click on a product’s Registration Number  
4. Look for the Emerging Viral Pathogens Claims section on the master label 
5. Look for the Enveloped Virus information in the chart to find which organism’s directions for use you should follow
6. Go to the product label and follow the directions for use against the listed organism
   • If there are multiple organisms listed, use the longest contact time, and if applicable, the highest concentration.."
     Recommended Disinfectants