More than 130,000 people have been tested for coronavirus in the US

More than 130,000 people have been tested for coronavirus in the US with around 12% confirmed positive as screenings increase across the nation

  • As of Friday, more than 130,000 Americans have been tested for coronavirus
  • At least 12% of cases have been confirmed positive and nearly 3,300 tests are pending
  • When the CDC first rolled out tests, they were found to be faulty, forcing components of the kit to be remanufactured
  • Red tape led to the US Food and Drug Administration delaying the authorization of outside laboratories to perform tests
  • Several states have since ramped up testing including opening drive-thru centers and even offering testing at some places without appointments 
  • In the US, there are more than 16,000 cases and at least 214 deaths 
  • Coronavirus symptoms: what are they and should you see a doctor?

More than 130,000 Americans have been tested for coronavirus as kits are sent out and drive-thru centers pop up across the US.

As of Friday afternoon, 12 percent have been confirmed positive and the results of about 3,300 tests are still pending.

It’s a welcome surprise after weeks of delays from federal health officials and red tape in authorizing outside labs to perform tests.

Several states have since ramped up testing including opening drive-thru centers and even offering testing at some places without appointments.

As of Friday, more than 130,000 Americans have been tested coronavirus. Pictured: The CDC’s laboratory test kit for the new coronavirus

At least 12% of cases have been confirmed positive and 3,200 tests are pending. Pictured: Medical personnel conduct doctor prescribed only drive-thru testing for coronavirus at Johns Hopkins Hospital in Baltimore, Maryland, March 19

At least 12% of cases have been confirmed positive and 3,200 tests are pending. Pictured: Medical personnel conduct doctor prescribed only drive-thru testing for coronavirus at Johns Hopkins Hospital in Baltimore, Maryland, March 19

When the CDC first rolled out tests, they were found to be faulty, forcing components of the kit to be remanufactured. Pictured: A health care worker checks in a person at a drive up coronavirus testing site at Advocate Lutheran General Hospital in Park Ridge, Illinois, March 19

When the CDC first rolled out tests, they were found to be faulty, forcing components of the kit to be remanufactured. Pictured: A health care worker checks in a person at a drive up coronavirus testing site at Advocate Lutheran General Hospital in Park Ridge, Illinois, March 19

There was great difficulty in getting tested in the early days of the outbreak due to health officials first distributing a flawed test, then only providing states with a couple hundred each.

The Centers for Disease (CDC) shipped its first batch of kits to laboratories across the US on February 5. 

Less that a week later, several state labs said the CDC diagnostic was returning ‘inconclusive results.’

This forced the federal health agency to remanufacture components of the kit, although its unclear what defect occurred. 

By March 6, an investigation from The Atlantic found only 1,895 people had been definitively been tested for coronavirus.

That same week, US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) Commissioner Stephen Hahn said upwards of a million tests would be performed by the end of the week.

But officials within the Trump administration later had to come forward and admit the government had nowhere near that number of kits readily available. 

Health and Human Services Secretary Alex Azar explained during a press briefing on that each suspected person actually requires two tests.

Therefore, even if one million tests were run, only 500,000 patients at most would be tested – and that’s if no tests return inconclusive results.  

Several states have since ramped up testing including opening drive-thru centers and even offering testing at some places without appointments. Pictured: A drive-thru coronavirus testing site for residents on Quincy Street in Arlington, Virginia

Several states have since ramped up testing including opening drive-thru centers and even offering testing at some places without appointments. Pictured: A drive-thru coronavirus testing site for residents on Quincy Street in Arlington, Virginia 

Since then, several states have ramped up testing in an attempt to more quickly identify and isolate infected people before they spread the virus.

New York has performed the most with more than 32,000 tests completed followed by Washington, California, Texas and Minnesota, respectively.

Several states have opened clinics where appointments can be made, drive-thru testing locations, and even a few sites where no appointments are necessary.

These are the numbers of tests that have been run by every state and territory:

New York: 32,427 

Washington: 20,712

California: 9,844

Texas: 5,277 

Minnesota: 3,856  

Florida: 3,416 

North Carolina: 2,233 

Illinois: 3,151

Massachusetts: 3,132 

Colorado: 2,952

Pennsylvania: 2,842 

New Mexico: 2,797

Michigan: 2,449

Georgia: 2,386 

Wisconsin: 2,347

Virginia: 2,325 

Maine: 2,321 

Nevada: 2,098 

Oregon: 1,854  

Utah: 1,526

New Hampshire: 1,420

Louisiana: 1,047 

New Jersey: 1,026

Oklahoma: 961 

South Dakota: 947

Montana: 947

South Carolina: 914 

Rhode Island: 838

North Dakota: 820 

Mississippi: 775 

Connecticut: 763 

Vermont: 689

Iowa: 686 

Kentucky: 639

Tennessee: 618

Idaho: 613

District of Columbia: 573

Arkansas: 559

Indiana: 554 

Alaska: 513

Kansas: 451

Missouri: 416 

Arizona: 352

Wyoming: 369

Nebraska: 272

Ohio: 259

Maryland: 243 

West Virginia: 239 

Puerto Rico: 164 

Hawaii: 159

Alabama: 109 

Guam: 100

Delaware: 74

US Virgin Islands: 3

 

Read more at DailyMail.co.uk