President Trump’s coronavirus task force promised earlier this week that 1 million tests for the virus would be distributed to states by the end of the week, with Vice President Mike Pence insisting on Tuesday that “any American can be tested.” It’s Friday, and it’s safe to say none of that is true.
By Gizmodo’s count, fewer than 50 tests have been conducted in the majority of state labs this week. Arizona has performed 36 tests, Maryland 31, New Jersey 13, Michigan 8, Vermont 5, and Arkansas has performed just 4 tests. Some states, like Mississippi, Wyoming, and North Dakota, haven’t performed any tests at all.
States with the highest number of coronavirus tests conducted, according to the most recent data available on Friday morning, include California with 516, Illinois with 170, New York with 98, and Colorado with 94. Washington state, the largest cluster of the virus in the country, is reportedly testing 100 people per day with plans to boost that number to as many as 4,000—but the state has not released information about the number of tests conducted. Still, this is a tiny fraction of what Americans were promised earlier this week.
The number of deaths from coronavirus in the U.S. currently stands at 14 people, with 233 confirmed cases, as of Friday morning. Two more elderly patients died overnight, with 11 of the 14 deaths nationwide occurring at one nursing home in the Seattle area. The current total of confirmed cases worldwide has now surpassed 100,000.
Pence previously said that 75,000 tests were being shipped to states this week, a number that hasn’t been independently verified, but Pence finally admitted on Thursday, “we don’t have enough tests today to meet what we anticipate will be the demand going forward.”
On top of the lack of tests, the testing criteria remains very narrow. The state of Michigan explained in a press release on Thursday precisely who is able to get tested based on CDC guidelines:
The new test kits arrived following news from the CDC that testing criteria had expanded to include any persons, including healthcare workers, who have had close contact with a laboratory-confirmed COVID-19 patient within 14 days of symptom onset, or a history of travel to one of the affected geographic areas within 14 days of symptom onset. Affected areas include China, Iran, Italy, Japan and South Korea.
Those guidelines are consistent with others that are posted online from states across the country. That means if you show up at a hospital, test negative for the flu, and have symptoms consistent with COVID-19, you can’t get the test unless you’ve recently traveled to those five countries or have been in direct contact with a known coronavirus patient.
“When I talked to some state officials, there was a sense that the tests would not be administered to people that were mildly symptomatic,” Pence said at a press briefing on Tuesday. “We’re issuing clear guidance that subject to doctors’ orders, any American can be tested.”
But if that guidance went out, it isn’t being followed. States like Missouri are struggling with the fact that they have few tests, and there’s massive confusion about who can receive a coronavirus test.
“That created a real challenge when the vice president told everybody they could get tested,” Dr. Rex Archer, director of the Kansas City Health Department, told local public radio station KCUR on Thursday. “Probably 95 percent of folks that we might think should be tested won’t be allowed to be tested.”
Even a nurse in California who wanted to get tested for coronavirus released a letter yesterday announcing that she was being denied a test.
And on the city-level, things are looking even more dire. The entire city of Kansas City, Missouri, has just five test kits. New York City has tested just 35 people as of Thursday afternoon.
President Trump held a press conference this morning and signed the $8 billion emergency coronavirus bill that was passed by both the House and the Senate this week. Trump was joined by Secretary of Health and Human Services Alex Azar, who made some curious claims about testing.
“Next week, we’ll keep ramping up production, so as many as 4 million tests next week are going to be driving forward,” Azar said with a straight face.
“So, everything is on schedule for the testing,” Azar added.
Below, Gizmodo has compiled a breakdown of coronavirus testing by state. There’s still a long way to go before we have any idea how many people in the U.S. have contracted the new coronavirus.
Alabama
- Tests performed: N/A
- Confirmed cases: 0
Alabama received an undisclosed number of testing kits from the CDC this week, but the state hasn’t ramped up testing yet.
Alaska
- Tests performed: 9 (as of March 5, 12:30 pm local time)
- Confirmed cases: 0
Source: Alaska Department of Health and Social Services
Arizona
- Tests performed: 36 (as of March 5, 9:00 am local time)
- Confirmed cases: 1
Source: Arizona Department of Health Services
Arkansas
- Tests performed: 4 (as of March 5)
- Confirmed cases: 0
Source: Arkansas Department of Health
California
- Tests performed: 516
- Confirmed cases: 60 (as of March 5)
- Deaths: 1
According to California Department of Public Health, eleven public health labs have received CDC test kits and are now able to perform tests. These labs are: Richmond, Alameda, Contra Costa, Sacramento, San Francisco, Santa Clara, Tulare, Ventura, Los Angeles, Orange, and San Diego County labs.
Source: Los Angeles Times, Governor Gavin Newsom’s Office press release
Colorado
- Tests performed: 94 (as of March 5 at 11:00 am local time)
- Confirmed cases: 2
Colorado reported its first case of coronavirus on Thursday night. The patient is a man in his 30s who’s in isolation in the Denver metro area.
Source: Email to Gizmodo from state health officials and Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment
Connecticut
- Tests performed: N/A
- Confirmed cases: 0
Source: Connecticut Department of Public Health
Delaware
- Tests performed: 9, with 1 still pending (as of March 5)
- Confirmed cases: 0
Source: Delaware Public Health
District of Columbia
- Tests performed: 8 (as of March 6, 10 am local time), with 1 pending
- Confirmed cases: 0
Source: WTOP
Florida
- Tests performed: 64 (as of March 6, 11:52 am local time) with additional 51 test results still pending
- Confirmed cases: 9
Source: Florida Health
Georgia
- Tests performed: N/A
- Confirmed cases: 2
Source: Georgia Department of Public Health
Hawaii
- Tests performed: 6 (as of March 5)
- Confirmed cases: 0
Source: Email to Gizmodo from state health officials and State of Hawaii, Public Health
Idaho
- Tests performed: 15 (as of March 5)
- Confirmed cases: 0
Source: Idaho Department of Health
Illinois
- Tests performed: 170 (as of March 4)
- Confirmed cases: 3
Source: Illinois Department of Public Health
Indiana
- Tests performed: N/A
- Confirmed cases: 0
At least some people in Indiana have been tested, according to local reports; however, the number of statewide tests is currently unknown. Indiana has reportedly received 900 tests, as of March 2.
Iowa
- Tests performed: 8
- Confirmed cases: 0
Source: Iowa Department of Public Health
Kansas
- Tests performed: 4 (as of March 4, 9:30 am local time)
- Confirmed cases: 0
Source: Governor Laura Kelly’s office and Kansas Department of Health and Environment
Kentucky
- Tests performed: N/A
- Confirmed cases: 0
Source: Kentucky Cabinet for Health and Family Services
Louisiana
- Tests performed: 5 (as of March 5)
- Confirmed cases: 0
As local TV news network FOX8 explains, the only way to conduct testing in Louisiana is for local hospitals to call the state health authorities and a courier will come to pick up a sample from the patient that will be sent to the state lab in Baton Rouge.
Source: FOX8
Maine
- Tests performed: N/A
- Confirmed cases: 0
Source: Maine Department of Health and Human Services
Maryland
- Tests performed: 31
- Confirmed cases: 3
Source: Maryland Department of Health
Massachusetts
- Tests performed: N/A
- Confirmed cases: 1
Source: Massachusetts Department of Public Health
Michigan
- Tests performed: 8, with an additional 8 results still pending
- Confirmed cases: 0
Michigan Department of Health and Human Services (MDHHS) Bureau of Laboratories announced this week that it will soon have the capacity to test 300 samples.
“The MDHHS lab received additional test kits from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) today,” the lab said in a press release on Thursday. “The kits are currently undergoing a validation process but should be ready for use by the end of the week.”
Source: State of Michigan and MDHHS
Minnesota
- Tests performed: 22 (as of March 5) with 10 additional test results still pending
- Confirmed cases: 0
Minnesota currently has the equipment to test roughly 1,600 patients, according to a spokesperson from the Minnesota Department of Health who sent Gizmodo the figures on Thursday.
Source: Email to Gizmodo from state health officials and the Minnesota Department of Health
Mississippi
- Tests performed: 0
- Confirmed cases: 0
Source: Mississippi Department of Health
Missouri
- Tests performed: N/A
- Confirmed cases: 0
Officials in Missouri report that city and county health authorities are receiving just five kits for each jurisdiction. That means a city as large as Kansas City, Missouri, has just five kits from the CDC.
Montana
- Tests performed: 8
- Confirmed cases: 0
Source: Montana Department of Health and Human Services
Nebraska
- Tests performed: 17, with an additional 5 test results still pending
- Confirmed cases: 8 (all patients evacuated from Diamond Princess cruise in Japan)
“Eight of the original 15 Americans from the Diamond Princess cruise ship remain on the UNMC/ Nebraska Medical Center campus,” Nebraska Medicine said in a press release Thursday.
“One guest – cleared yesterday – left the National Quarantine Unit this morning. One person continues to be treated in the Nebraska Biocontainment Unit, and seven are being monitored in the quarantine unit.”
Source: Nebraska Medicine and Nebraska Department of Health and Human Services
Nevada
- Tests performed: 14
- Confirmed cases: 0
Source: Nevada Department of Health and Human Services
New Hampshire
- Tests performed: 16 (as of March 5) with an additional 4 test results still pending
- Confirmed cases: 2
Source: New Hampshire Department of Health and Human Services
New Jersey
- Tests performed: 13 (as of March 5)
- Confirmed cases: 2
New Jersey confirmed its second case of the coronavirus on Thursday in a woman in her 30s from Bergen County. She is self-isolating at home.
Source: New Jersey Department of Health on Twitter
New Mexico
- Tests performed: 10 (as of March 5)
- Confirmed cases: 0
Source: KOB4
New York
- Tests performed: 98 (as of March 5, 2:00 pm local time), with an additional 18 test results pending
- Confirmed cases: 33 (as of March 6, 12:40 pm local time)
Source: New York Department of Health and ABC7
North Carolina
- Tests performed: N/A
- Confirmed cases: 2
North Carolina announced its second case of coronavirus on Friday morning in a man whose condition is reportedly good.
“A North Carolina man from Chatham County traveled in late February to an area in Italy that now has a COVID-19 outbreak,” the North Carolina Department of Health and Human Services said in a statement. “He had two days of mild, flu-like symptoms while in Italy. His fever resolved and symptoms were improving, and he flew back to the United States the following day. This person was a contact to a case in Georgia and the Georgia Department of Health notified North Carolina health officials.”
Source: Emailed statement to Gizmodo and North Carolina Department of Health and Human Services
North Dakota
- Tests performed: 0
- Confirmed cases: 0
Source: North Dakota Department of Health
Ohio
- Tests performed: 7 (as of March 5) with 3 additional test results pending
- Confirmed cases: 0
Source: Ohio Department of Health
Oklahoma
- Tests performed: N/A
- Confirmed cases: 0
“We are continuing to test individuals who either have symptoms or who recently travelled from one of the affected areas of the globe where the virus is spreading,” Commissioner of Health Gary Cox of the Oklahoma Department of Health, said in a statement emailed to Gizmodo. The commissioner did not include the number of tests.
Source: Emailed statement from OK health officials
Oregon
- Tests performed: 48 (as of March 4, 5:25 pm) with an additional 13 tests pending
- Confirmed cases: 3
“The Oregon State Public Health Laboratory is currently able to process up to 80 tests a day and is building surge capacity if needed,” a spokesperson for the Oregon Health Authority told Gizmodo via email. “We have sufficient supplies on hand to perform approximately 1,500 tests and CDC has pledged to replenish our capacity as needed.”
Source: Emailed statement from Oregon health officials and Oregon Health Authority
Pennsylvania
- Tests performed: N/A
- Confirmed cases: 2 (as of March 6, 11:00 am ET)
“In the last few hours we received confirmation of presumed - I emphasize the word presumed - positive cases of COVID-19, or coronavirus, in Pennsylvania. I’m saying presumed positive for a reason, because the results have to be confirmed by the CDC. But we have two that we have tested in Pennsylvania, so we are presuming positive,” Pennsylvania Governor Wolf said.
Pennsylvania has the ability to test roughly 25 specimens per day at the state public health laboratory in Exton, according to Secretary of Health Dr. Rachel Levine.
Source: Emailed statement from state health officials and PA Department of Health
Rhode Island
- Tests performed: 19 (as of March 5) with 8 pending
- Confirmed cases: 2
Source: Rhode Island Department of Health, WPRI, and Providence Journal
South Carolina
- Tests performed: 5 (as of March 4, 4:51 pm local time)
- Confirmed cases: 0
Source: South Carolina Department of Health and Environmental Control
South Dakota
- Tests performed: 0
- Confirmed cases: 0
Source: South Dakota Department of Health
Tennessee
- Tests performed: N/A
- Confirmed cases: 1
Source: Tennessee Department of Health
Texas
- Tests performed: N/A
- Confirmed cases: 3 (not including patients evacuated from other parts of the world and brought to Texas)
Texas’s first two cases of the virus were announced on Thursday, with an additional case announced Thursday night. The first two patients recently arrived from Egypt, according to Harris County Judge Linda Hidalgo, and are described as a man and a woman, both in their 60s. One of the patients is an employee at Rice University in Texas. The third case announced on Thursday night also arrived from Egypt, a man in his 60s or 70s.
Source: Texas Health and Human Services and KRQE
Utah
- Tests performed: 15 (as of March 2)
- Confirmed cases: 0
Source: Utah Department of Health
Vermont
- Tests performed: 5
- Confirmed cases: 0
Source: Vermont Department of Health
Virginia
- Tests performed: 21 (as of March 6), with 10 test results pending
- Confirmed cases: 0
Source: WTOP, Virginia Department of Health
Washington
- Tests performed: N/A
- Confirmed cases: 70
- Deaths: 13
Source: Washington Department of Health
West Virginia
- Tests performed: 3
- Confirmed cases: 0
Source: Office of Governor Jim Justice and West Virginia University and Dominion Post
Wisconsin
- Tests performed: 24 (as of March 5, 2:00 pm local time) with 14 additional test results pending
- Confirmed cases: 1
Source: Wisconsin Department of Health Services
Wyoming
- Tests performed: 0
- Confirmed cases: 0
“We are currently not testing at our Wyoming Public Health Laboratory, but are preparing to do so quite soon,” a spokesperson for the Wyoming Department of Health told Gizmodo.
Source: Email from Wyoming health official and Cowboy State Daily
Note: The numbers by state will be updated as new figures become available on Friday.