The U.S. is facing shortages of cotton swabs for COVID-19 testing despite the Trump administration's plans to drastically increase testing capacity this week, according to Politico.
The president said March 16 that the administration will launch high-volume testing in 2,000 sites nationwide by the end of the week, with each lab processing 2,000 to 4,000 tests a day.
Medical providers use cotton swabs to collect samples of patients' phlegm and saliva to test for COVID-19.
"I’m worried now about access to an adequate number of swabs, not just the RNA extraction kits," California Gov. Gavin Newsom reportedly said at a March 15 news conference, referring to a shortage of a critical component of kits used to diagnose COVID-19.
Brett Giroir, the HHS assistant secretary of health, told more than 300 representatives of commercial labs, hospitals and state health departments that the administration expects "speed bumps" in the supply chain as testing expands, Politico reported.
In an effort to speed testing, the FDA approved the use of more types of cotton swabs.
States have been asking the federal government for supplies such as face masks as hospitals are quickly running out, but President Donald Trump told governors March 16 to try to secure the supplies on their own before reaching out, according to The Hill.
"We will be backing you, but try getting it yourselves. Point of sales, much better, much more direct if you can get it yourself," he reportedly said.
Trump added that the government has ordered "tremendous numbers" of supplies, but said it is "always going to be faster" if states get them directly from suppliers, The Hill reported.
The amount of supplies the U.S. government has ordered is unclear. It keeps a stockpile of medical supplies states can use in times of emergency, including 10.5 million respirator masks and 12,700 ventilators, according to The Hill.