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President Donald Trump’s political fate now hinges on a simple premise: Everybody who needs a coronavirus test must be able to get a test. More than five weeks into a devastating shutdown of the U.S. economy, Trump’s aides and advisers inside and outside his administration now view disapproval of his preparedness for the coronavirus pandemic as his biggest political liability heading into the 2020 election. (Cook, 4/21)

The failure by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention to quickly produce a test kit for detecting the novel coronavirus was triggered by a glaring scientific breakdown at the CDC’s central laboratory complex in Atlanta, according to scientists with knowledge of the matter and a determination by federal regulators. The CDC facilities that assembled the kits violated sound manufacturing practices, resulting in contamination of one of the three test components used in the highly sensitive detection process, the scientists said. (Willman, 4/18)

Pressure is building on the Trump administration to further increase the nation’s production of coronavirus tests, as experts say the country is still nowhere near the level it needs to be to safely reopen the economy. Several recent leading estimates say the United States needs to at least triple its testing capacity. (Sullivan, 4/20)

A chorus of governors from both parties pushed back hard Monday after President Donald Trump accused Democrats of playing “a very dangerous political game” by insisting there is a shortage of tests for coronavirus. The governors countered that the White House must do more to help states do the testing that’s needed before they can ease up on stay-at-home orders. Kansas’ Democratic Gov. Laura Kelly said the current federal effort “really is not good enough if we’re going to be able to start to open our economy. We cannot do that safely without the tests in place.” (Suderman, Hanna and Colvin, 4/21)

Maryland Gov. Larry Hogan announced Monday that Maryland has purchased 500,000 tests from South Korea, saying the Trump administration “made it clear over and over again” that states “have to go out and do it ourselves.” Testing shortages have stymied the pandemic response across the country, sparking friction between the White House and governors. Over the weekend, Hogan disputed President Trump’s assertion that states already had enough tests, calling the White House messaging “just absolutely false.” (Nirappil, Cox and Schneider, 4/20)

Hogan acknowledged Monday that the deal would not have come together if it weren’t for his wife, first lady Yumi Hogan. Yumi joined the governor Saturday to welcome a Boeing 777, the first-ever Korean Air passenger plane to land at Baltimore-Washington International Marshall Airport, which the governor said was carrying more tests than “four of the top five states in America” combined have completed. (Wiggins, 4/20)

Testing is critical to controlling the coronavirus and eventually easing restrictions that have halted daily life for most Americans. But there’s been confusion about what kinds of tests are available and what they actually measure. There are still just two main types in the U.S. One tells you if you have an active infection with the coronavirus, whether you have symptoms or not. The other checks to see if you were previously infected at some point and fought it off. (Perrone, 4/20)

As coronavirus cases rise in Georgia, testing has been ramped up at Atlanta’s homeless shelters to quickly identify individuals who have the virus and prevent it from spreading. While the testing has helped shelters identify and get treatment for residents who have coronavirus or the disease it causes, COVID-19, so far there seems to be no organized method of tracking the virus in the homeless population. (Habersham, 4/20)