The U.S. continues to lag far behind much of the world in testing for the coronavirus, despite days of promises from the Trump administration. NPR writes that “fighting at the Department of Health and Human Services and the need to flatter Trump impeded the response to the coronavirus.” While on NPR’s Fresh Air, Politico’s Dan Diamond said:

My understanding is he did not push to do aggressive additional testing in recent weeks, and that’s partly because more testing might have led to more cases being discovered of coronavirus outbreak, and the president had made clear – the lower the numbers on coronavirus, the better for the president, the better for his potential reelection this fall.

And now the criticism is becoming bipartisan as Americans everywhere find it difficult, if not impossible, to be tested for the virus.

In response, the Food and Drug Administration is setting up a 24-hour hotline to assist laboratories who are having difficulty finding testing materials.

The Washington Post writes the government is also giving more than million dollars to two companies who are developing testing kits that will give results within an hour.

CNN: FDA is allowing emergency use of a novel coronavirus testing system designed by Roche Molecular Systems “within 24 hours of receiving the application,” the first commercially distributed diagnostic test to receive an emergency use authorization during the Covid-19 outbreak.

— Jake Tapper (@jaketapper) March 13, 2020

The Post also writes:

“In addition, the Department of Health and Human Services assigned Brett Giroir, the assistant secretary for health, to coordinate all covid-19 testing efforts among federal public health agencies, including the FDA, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, state and local health departments, and public and private clinical laboratories. The FDA also is giving New York state the ability to authorize certain public and private labs to test for the virus under the aegis of the state health department, without first getting federal approval.

“Earlier this week, New York Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo (D) announced he was moving ahead to contract with 28 private labs in New York. “We’re not in a position where we can rely on the CDC or the FDA to manage this testing protocol,” the governor said.“

"It's really mind-boggling how badly we have done on testing"

Dr. Ashish Jha, director of the Harvard Global Health Institute, says the U.S. response to coronavirus is among the worst in the world. https://t.co/Iu80o4H13Q

— MSNBC (@MSNBC) March 13, 2020

Now, the wealthiest man in China is donating testing kits to the U.S.

China’s richest man says he is donating 500,000 coronavirus testing kits to the United States. https://t.co/qwyJDoDWMr

— Anup Kaphle (@AnupKaphle) March 13, 2020