The federal government is ending funding and support for 13 coronavirus testing sites in five states, CNN reports. The 13 affected sites are located in Texas, Illinois, New Jersey, Colorado, and Pennsylvania.
Funding for these test sites expires on June 30, and federal officials reportedly said they have decided not to extend it.
Texas would perhaps be the state most affected by the federal government’s decision. It is home to seven of the 13 affected sites and this week saw a record daily increase in new cases.
Rocky Vaz, the director of emergency management for the city of Dallas, told Talking Points Memo that he asked for an extension of the testing sites but was turned down.
“They told us very clearly that they are not going to extend it,” Vaz said.
Vaz said the city would probably need to hire private contractors to replace the federal testing sites.
“The personnel, the site, the tents, the generators, the kits, the lab work, the patient notification, all of that,” Vaz said. “These things cost money.”
The reports come after President Donald Trump falsely said over the weekend that the US’s high infection numbers were solely a result of widespread testing, adding that he had asked officials to slow down testing in response.
