The Centers for Disease
Control's new timeline
for getting coronavirus
diagnostic testing

kits to every state was welcome
news today. But there have been
questions about the country's

ability to do enough tests in
the event of a real outbreak.

It's also raised larger
questions about the
health system's ability
to deal with a major

surge of patients.

Dennis Carroll is the former
director of the U.S. Agency
For International Developments'

Emerging Threats Division.
He currently heads the Global
Virome Project. It's a nonprofit

global partnership working
to prepare for potential
future viral threats.

Dennis Carroll, welcome
to the "NewsHour."

DENNIS CARROLL, Former
Director, USAID Emerging
Threats Division: Thank you.

JUDY WOODRUFF: So, right now,
does the United States have in
place the systems, the materials

that it needs to address
what may be coming?

DENNIS CARROLL: The
short answer is no.

We do have the plans for what
is needed. And I think the
public health community in the

United States, and certainly
those at the Centers for
Disease Control, have arced out

a very excellent plan over
the years on how to deal
with exactly this situation.

And for two months, we
have known, since the
beginning of January,
that this is an imminent

threat. A month ago, the WHO
signaled that this was a public
held event of international

concern, which should
have initiated political
leadership to step forward
and began authorizing

the use of these plans.

And what we have not seen is
the execution or the leadership
from the political communities.

JUDY WOODRUFF: So, you're
saying it's been slow, slower
than it should have been.

What I want to ask you
specifically about are those
testing kits, a lot of focus on

those. Are there enough
available now for what may
be coming in the near future?

DENNIS CARROLL:
Oh, absolutely not.

I mean, I think the strategic
use of these kits, as defined
by the Centers for Disease

Control right now, really limit
where we are testing. And it's
largely around populations

coming in from what we know to
be infected areas, largely Asia.

We know nothing about what
may or may not be circulating
within the United States. So,

we have only tested 500
people. South Korea has tested
tens of thousands of people.

JUDY WOODRUFF: Are there kits
available elsewhere around the
globe that the U.S. can access?

DENNIS CARROLL: Well, I don't
really have insight into that.

But it's clear that there's been
a real challenge on the part
of the United States to provide

these kits. And it's a real
exception. Historically,
the U.S. Centers for
Disease Control has really

been a leader in being able to
generate these kits for other
epidemics, other outbreaks.

I think what we're looking at
is a consequence of underfunding
and underattention to the

systems that are required
to make this happen too.

You just can't turn on a spigot
and make a kit available.

JUDY WOODRUFF: We heard
the secretary of Health
and Human Services, Alex
Azar, say today -- he

said the risk of Americans
contracting the virus remains
low, but he also said some 30

percent of Americans could
become infected, and the vast
majority would have low-level

symptoms.

But 30 percent, does that all
alarm you? Does that sound like
what you would expect, given

what we see so far?

DENNIS CARROLL: Well, first off,
the World Health Organization
declared that this is

a very high-level emergency
today for the whole globe.

I think what we are recognizing,
that we don't know how many
people will be infected, but

what we do know is that it will
be -- community transmission
will go on. We need to prepare

for that. And significant
parts of the population
will be infected.

And the numbers that we see
coming out of Asia in terms of
mortality, we should be very

concerned about that happening
here in the United States.

JUDY WOODRUFF: What would give
you comfort? What would you
-- what do you want to see

coming from the federal
government, the important
points inside the
federal government that

would give you the
confidence that -- frankly,
that the country is
more ready than you say

it is right now?

DENNIS CARROLL: Well, we
have seen in the past that an
effective response begins with

leadership at the top.

And that has a way of trickling
down through the entire
system. And so you ask me what

I would like to see. The White
House really taking this issue
seriously and recognizing

that this represents
an extraordinary public
health risk to the people
of the United States.

JUDY WOODRUFF: Dennis Carroll,
sobering words. Thank you.

DENNIS CARROLL: Thank you.