The Trump administration announced it will be removing federal funding from 13 coronavirus testing sites spread across five states on June 30, and the move is now drawing pushback from both political parties. “The federal government is not ending funding or support for COVID-19 testing sites,” Assistant Secretary for the Department of Health and Human Services Adm. Brett Giroir told Fox News Thursday. “We are transitioning 13 sites from the original now antiquated program to the more efficient and effective testing sites,” Giroir said, adding that hundreds of other testing sites are federally funded and this move has been planned since May. Giroir told Fox News that the original 41 community testing sites have expanded to more than 600 testing sites in 48 states under a “federal bundled payment program to pharmacies,” which enabled more than 1,400 additional pharmacy sites to provide testing. “HHS will continue to increase testing capacity overall, and make it more accessible especially to underserved communities,” Giroir said Thursday.

Source: Fox News June 25, 2020 22:07 UTC