Dr. Robert Redfield, director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), revealed the United States is facing a massive shortage of contact tracers with only a third of the amount needed amid the coronavirus pandemic.
During the āOversight of the Trump Administrationās Response to the COVID-19 Pandemicā hearing held by the Energy and Commerce Committee Tuesday, Redfield was questioned about how a return to school will look for students in the secondary education setting.
In response to the question, Redfield noted how critical it will be for the country to have an adequate number of contact tracers, nationwide.
āFirst and foremost, itās really important that we continue to take this time to continue to accelerate our capacity to diagnose and obviously have readily and available timely test results and build that capacity for isolation, contact tracing, and self-quarantine,ā he said.
Redfield also revealed the estimated number of contact tracers in the United States as he noted the severity of the shortage.
He continued, āAs I mentioned in January, we had about 6,000 contact tracers in this country. At the beginning of June, it was up to around 27,000 or 28,000. It needs to continue to increase, in my view, up towards 100,000.ā
āIf we get that operationally functional, thatās going to be critical for what weāre doing,ā he said.
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Redfieldās remarks come amid criticism about President Donald Trumpās administrationās handling of the pandemic. At least 25 states are currently experiencing upticks in case rates.
On Saturday, the president came under fire after he suggested that he had advised officials to āslow the testing downā for the coronavirus, as he insisted that expanded testing would lead to more cases known.
As of Tuesday afternoon, there are more than 2.4 million confirmed coronavirus cases in the United States. The countryās death toll currently stands at 123,157.