Explained: Why is it so hard to get tested for coronavirus?

<p>As cases of coronavirus continue to skyrocket, many are asking why there's a massive shortage of coronavirus test kits in the U.S.</p><p>On Thursday, Dr. Anthony Fauci, the country's top expert on infectious diseases and White House Coronavirus Task Force member, told a House Oversight committee that the coronavirus testing system is a "failing."</p><p>"The system is not really geared to what we need right now ... let's admit it," said Fauci, director of theNational Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases.</p><p>So what is the system?</p><p>The slow down appears to stem fromdelays in getting testing kits out to public health labs.</p><p>“The fact is that the way the system was set up is that the public health component that Dr. Redfield was talking about was a system where you put it out there in the public and a physician asks for it and you get it," Fauci said. "The idea of anybody getting it easily, the way people in other countries are doing it, we’re not set up for that.”</p><p>In addition,in January, the U.S. declined to use a test approved by the World Health Organization. Instead, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention developed its own coronavirus test. However, there were manufacturing defects with the initial CDC tests, which meant many of the results were inconclusive.</p><p>Speaking on Fox News' "Fox and Friends," Faucipromised Friday that America will see a "major escalation" in testing going forward. </p><p>"So, what we are doing right now is getting private sector involved –the companies that make a living doing these tests, getting them involved –and looking forward. ... Right now, with the private sector involved, you are going to see a major escalation of the capability of getting people tested when they want it," he said.</p><p>The Cleveland Clinic says it now has the components to preforma diagnostic test that can deliver results in just hours. Also, the Food and Drug Administration will continue to approve new tests, such as one from Swiss diagnostics maker Roche. Accordingto Reuters, the Roche test was given emergency approval Friday by the FDA and can give results in 3.5 hours and produce up to 4,128 results in a day.</p><p>Although there are no official numbers from the federal government on the country’s overall testing capacity, Dr. Scott Gottlieb, a former FDA commissioner and resident fellow at the American Enterprise Institute, a conservative think tank, estimated U.S. labs could process results for more than 20,000 patients a day.</p>