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1/ I think I've figured out why New York's testing capacity has grown so much, while New Jersey's has stayed flat.
Answer has to do with a simple choice by each governor: who to partner with on testing.
NY Test Data: https://twitter.com/JPVMan/status/1249822514324406281?s=20
NJ Test Data: https://twitter.com/JPVMan/status/1249402031837757442?s=20
Answer has to do with a simple choice by each governor: who to partner with on testing.
NY Test Data: https://twitter.com/JPVMan/status/1249822514324406281?s=20
NJ Test Data: https://twitter.com/JPVMan/status/1249402031837757442?s=20
2/ @GovMurphy in NJ chose to partner with FEMA: https://www.nj.com/coronavirus/2020/03/nj-to-set-up-2-main-coronavirus-testing-sites-at-college-concert-venue-with-fema-help.html
This partnership came at a cost:
- Only two FEMA testing sites were brought online in NJ.
- Tests were limited to ~500 per day per site.
- The sites soon stopped operating every day due to lack of supplies.
This partnership came at a cost:
- Only two FEMA testing sites were brought online in NJ.
- Tests were limited to ~500 per day per site.
- The sites soon stopped operating every day due to lack of supplies.
3/ Eventually, more testing sites were brought online in NJ: https://covid19.nj.gov/testing . But the additional sites were limited in scope:
- Prescription or appointment generally required.
- Restricted to county or municipality residents.
- Only for the symptomatic.
- Prescription or appointment generally required.
- Restricted to county or municipality residents.
- Only for the symptomatic.
4/ In addition, the FEMA sites in NJ were at risk of getting funding pulled and shutting down. Keeping these two sites going required time and attention from the NJ government.
5/ By contrast, @NYGovCuomo decided to partner with the private labs themselves, which are the true bottleneck in the system. Cuomo secured dedicated lab testing capacity for NY testing sites with Bioreference, per coverage in The Atlantic & other sources: https://www.theatlantic.com/health/archive/2020/03/next-covid-19-testing-crisis/609193/
6/ NYC even canceled its plans to open 10 FEMA-sponsored sites in the city: https://nypost.com/2020/03/22/nyc-cancels-remote-coronavirus-testing-to-focus-on-hospital-sites/
7/ New Jersey was stuck with a patchwork of differently coordinated testing sites, with no lab capacity dedicated just for NJ. Thus, NJ had to compete with both the rest of the tai-state area and the whole country for lab time: https://www.nytimes.com/2020/04/13/nyregion/coronavirus-testing.html
8/ So while NY was able to scale up its testing to the highest levels in the US, and is now seeing declining positivity levels as it passes the peak, NJ is stuck in no-man's land:
- Not enough testing to measure the peak.
- Highest positivity in the US, and still rising.
- Not enough testing to measure the peak.
- Highest positivity in the US, and still rising.
9/ The above is just a hypothesis based on careful observation of testing in NY and NJ. Would love to see some real journalism to confirm. Would be a good story for @njdotcom, @northjersey, or @njspotlight to look into. (End)
