Secretary of Health and Human Services Alex Azar said on Tuesday that he’s not sure how many Americans have been tested for coronavirus because of the lack of a reporting system.
Said Azar on CNN’s New Day: “We don’t know exactly how many because of hundreds of thousands of our tests have gone out to private labs and hospitals that currently do not report into CDC. We’re working with the CDC and those partners to get an IT reporting system up and running, hopefully this week, where we would be able to get that data, to keep track of how many we’re testing.”
Asked if a number reported by The Atlantic — 4,384 — seemed accurate, Azar replied: “I just wouldn’t want to speculate. Listen, my hallmark here is that I’m going to tell you what I know, and I’m going to tell you what we do not know. We’re about leveling with the American people and being transparent, and right now I’m just telling you, when somebody sells a test kit to a private entity, right now, we don’t know when or if that’s been used, but we are working with them to get that system set up.”
