CDC blocked top FDA scientist dispatched to expedite coronavirus response at critical moment

When the Trump administration was struggling to resolve problems with coronavirus testing kits a couple weeks ago, the Food and Drug Administration sent one of its top scientists to help out.

The FDA’s director of the Office of In Vitro Diagnostics and Radiological Health, Timothy Stenzel, flew to CDC headquarters in Atlanta on the weekend of Feb. 22, but he was immediately forced to wait overnight as health department officials lobbied the CDC to give him access to the agency’s campus, according to Politico. Stenzel was there specifically to work out issues with the CDC's coronavirus test that had already hobbled more expansive screening for weeks.

The CDC told Politico Stenzel's wait was simply a function of the fact that he arrived a day earlier than the agency had expected. "Due to CDC security requirements, he was not allowed on campus that night," the spokesperson said.

Gee, maybe a little urgency might have helped as the minutes ticked away on preventing the spread of a virus that's now beginning to bud nationwide. Naturally, once he gained access, Stenzel found issues such as evidence of lab contamination that may have played a role in tainting the test kits and delaying their delivery.

Ultimately, the delays resulted in a failure to administer the tests quickly to a wider group of people in order to promote early detection of the virus and perhaps prevent its spread. "CDC initially limited testing to people who had recently traveled to China or had close contact with a confirmed case and were also symptomatic," writes Politico.