The Department of Health and Human Services says it will continue to support community-based coronavirus testing sites around the country despite saying earlier in the week it would stop.
The funding was to discontinue on Friday but because of social media backlash and criticism of local officials, the agency says the testing will go on thorugh May, NPR reported.
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“The federal government is not abandoning any of the community-based test sites. I want that to be loud and clear,” Adm. Brett Giroir, assistant secretary for health said.
The federal government’s action to cut funding meant the closing of several mobile sites in the nation, but state lawmakers say facilities are too important.
According to a Federal Emergency Management Agency advisory dated April 7, federal community-based testing sites across 12 states have screened more than 64,000 individuals.
FEMA has been helping states run “community-based testing sites” by providing nasal-swab testing kits, financial support, personal protective equipment, and other resources.
NPR said officials in Montgomery County outside Philadelphia said their drive-through site has tested at least 250 individuals per day since opening on March 21.
“The idea of cutting funding to testing in any way right now? We should just be ramping up as much testing as humanly possible,” Phil Petit, the national director of the International Association of EMTs and Paramedics, told Business Insider.
