Researchers in white lab coats sat on stools at long laboratory tables, instruments in hand, surrounded by beakers and advanced equipment.
The researchers were toiling away at the Hackensack Meridian Health Center for Discovery & Innovation in Nutley, working to develop a rapid-use diagnostic test for coronavirus.
As COVID-19 continues to spread around the globe, calls for more funding, rapid testing and preparatory measures in the U.S. grow, especially from critics of the Trump Administration’s response.
Sen. Bob Menendez toured the lab Friday and called out the administration in a press conference for the billions in cuts he said have been made to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s budget.
“An administration that in 2018 fired the government’s entire pandemic response chain of command … an administration that has sidelined experts throughout our government agencies, an administration that in fiscal year (2018) sent us a budget cutting $1.2 billion from the Center for Disease Control,” Menendez said.
The criticism follows an urgent warning this week from a top CDC official who told Americans to prepare for an “inevitable” outbreak. Federal health officials say the virus may lead to “community spread” — meaning the virus begins spreading from person to person in communities across the U.S.
Fears have only escalated in recent days as COVID-19 began circulating rapidly in Europe and the Middle East. The virus has spread to six continents after appearing in Mexico, Brazil and sub-Saharan Africa. The list of countries touched by the illness climbed to nearly 60.
The novel virus outbreak, which started in China, has infected more than 83,000 and claimed nearly 3,000 lives since December. The United States has 61 confirmed cases, but none in New Jersey.
The head of the World Health Organization announced that the risk of the virus spreading worldwide was “very high,” citing the “continued increase in the number of cases and the number of affected countries.”
Meanwhile, COVID-19 also appeared to be causing a worldwide economic crisis as anxiety over the disease cut trade and travel and dragged already slumping financial markets even lower.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average fell again Friday, losing about 350 points. It lost 3,583 points, or 12.4%, this week in the markets’ worst five-day period since the 2008 financial crisis. Microsoft and Apple, the two most valuable companies in the S&P 500, lost a combined $300 billion. In a sign of the severity of the concern, the price of oil sank 16%.
Problems have also emerged with the federal government’s capacity to test for the virus. The test kits the CDC sent to laboratories throughout the country have produced inconclusive or only partially accurate results, delaying the government’s ability to expand its testing capacity.
While those problems appear to have been fixed, concerns remain about the speed of testing.
“Right now, labs can start testing with existing CDC test kits using a new protocol developed by CDC and signed off on by FDA,” Dr. Nancy Messonnier, director of the CDC’s National Center for Immunization and Respiratory Diseases, said in a call with reporters Friday. “Additionally, CDC has manufactured brand new test kits that will only include the two components that are specific to novel coronavirus.
“Those test kits are at the International Reagent Resource, where orders can be placed. We hope, by the end of next week, most of the country’s public health laboratories will be testing.”
If approved, the test under development by the Hackensack Meridian Health Center and others could be distributed to hospitals and medical facilities throughout New Jersey. Hackensack Meridian said it was close to having a test ready that can produce results in two hours.
On Friday afternoon, the New Jersey Department of Health announced that the New Jersey Public Health Environmental Laboratories in West Trenton would now be able to test for the novel coronavirus.
“The ability to test specimens in New Jersey accelerates the turnaround time for diagnosing cases and implementing public health measures,” Health Commissioner Judith Persichilli said in a statement. “Testing capability will further enhance New Jersey’s preparedness and response to this evolving health emergency.”
Menendez also lambasted President Donald Trump for his handling of the virus, pointing to the appointment of Vice President Mike Pence to lead the federal government’s coronavirus task force instead of a czar with experience in infectious disease.
“This is one of the reasons I’m concerned about the president’s decision to put Vice President Pence in charge of this response,” Menendez said. “We asked for a czar … who (has) deep expertise in this field. But Vice President Pence, with all due respect, just doesn’t fit that bill.”
Menendez added: “And he’s not someone who we find has a deep belief in science.”
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
Spencer Kent may be reached at [email protected]. Follow him on Twitter @SpencerMKent. Find NJ.com on Facebook.
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