Expert: Excessive Authority Held by FDA Delays US Coronavirus Response

Microbiologist Xiugen Zhang runs a Polymerase Chain Reaction, or PCR, test at the Connecticut State Public Health Laboratory, in Rocky Hill, Conn., on March 2, 2020. Jessica Hill/File/AP Photo

WASHINGTON—Overregulation of diagnostic testing has played a major role in delaying the U.S. response to the coronavirus outbreak. The existing rules have created a bottleneck in delivery of testing kits, slowing the process of detection of cases in Washington state for weeks, said a health policy expert.

“The problem is a holdover from the Obama administration,” Roger Klein, a physician, attorney, and health policy expert, told The Epoch Times.