COVID-19 Is Spreading Like Wildfire In The US. Why Is There Less Testing For It Now?

COVID-19 Is Spreading Like Wildfire In The US. Why Is There Less Testing For It Now?

Just 18 days after the US marked 150,000 lives lost from the novel coronavirus COVID-19, the death toll surpassed 170,000.

Johns Hopkins University data says more than 5.4 million people have been infected and 170,052 have died.

Worryingly, COVID-19 is still spreading rampantly, but there is less testing available.

At the same time, the testing that is available is returning high positivity rates.

CNN reports the number of tests performed each day in the US dropped by an average of 68,000 compared to the daily rate in late July.

Fifteen states conducted fewer tests this past week compared to the previous week.

Yet test positivity rates -- the percentage of tests that are positive -- are still higher than the recommended 5% in more than 30 states.