Colorado Gov. Jared Polis (D) blamed widespread delays in coronavirus test results on the national testing system, calling it "a complete disgrace" on NBC's "Meet the Press" Sunday.
Why it matters: President Trump has often boasted about the U.S.' testing capabilities, but there have been widespread reports in recent weeks of backlogs that cause results to be delayed by up to two weeks — making it extremely difficult to contact trace and isolate patients.
What he's saying: "The national testing scene is a complete disgrace," Polis said. "So every test we send out to private lab partners nationally — Quest, LabCorp — seven days, eight days, nine days, maybe six days if we're lucky. Almost useless from a epidemiological or even diagnostic perspective."
"Fortunately, our state lab has done yeoman's work. We're running three shifts a day there, 24 hours a day," he continued.
"So while some are still sent out of state, and unfortunately that takes a long time and we can't count on it and our country needs to get testing right, we're trying to build that capacity in Colorado to process tests at that one-to-two day turnaround."
