Governor Tate Reeves joined President Trump at the White House this afternoon as the administration announced that the rollout of over 100 million rapid tests to states has begun.
The test, developed by Abbott, does not require a machine to process it and provides a result in less than 15 minutes. Demonstrated by U.S. Assistant Secretary for Health Admiral Brett Giroir, the test is intended to benefit nursing homes, schools and other settings that require rapid, low-tech points of care.
Focusing on education, President Trump explained during his remarks that when the tests are fully administered it will allow “every state to, on a very regular basis, test every teacher who needs it.”
During a meeting with the nation’s governors and state health officers, Admiral Giroir said that the term “gamechanger” was used—a notion echoed by Governor Reeves when he was asked by the president to speak on the deployment of the tests.
“While we have testing available now at least once a week in every county, what this allocation is going to allow for us is, we will have testing available for our K-12 teachers every single day going forward. Kids learn so much better when they’re in the classroom than when they’re distance or hybrid, and while we have 75-80% of our kids back in the classroom, we want to get 100% of our kids back in the classroom,” he said.
Governor Reeves also commended the President’s announcement of the allocation of over one million tests to HBCUs, specifically mentioning the impact this will have on Jackson State, Alcorn State, and Mississippi Valley State.
6.5 million tests will be sent out to states this week, and while the Trump administration is encouraging the tests to be used for the stated situations, governors are being given the flexibility to use them as they see fit.
Watch the governor’s full comments below:
We’re incredibly lucky to have President @realDonaldTrump leading this pandemic response. Our priority has been opening our schools and our economy, and it’s been successful—largely because of strong support from the Trump administration like these game-changing rapid tests. pic.twitter.com/k5yromAcTM
— Tate Reeves (@tatereeves) September 28, 2020
