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Cars are lined up at Dodger Stadium in Los Angeles for coronavirus testing. Nearly 2 million people are getting tested a day in the U.S. A new analysis shows millions more are needed to protect the most vulnerable. Mario Tama/Getty Images
The nation is at a pivotal moment in the fight against the pandemic. Vaccines are finally starting to roll out, but the virus is spreading faster than ever and killing thousands of Americans daily. And it will be months before enough people get inoculated to stop it.
That means it s critical to continue the measures that can limit the toll: mask-wearing, hunkering down, hand-washing, testing and contact tracing.
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DAVID GREENE, HOST: NPR has new data this morning. It reveals that some states finally are catching up on COVID testing. And that is crucially important at a time when the virus is spreading faster than ever, also killing record numbers of people. We ve been tracking the data in partnership with Harvard and Brown Universities. And NPR s Rob Stein is here to tell us about it. Rob, good morning.
ROB STEIN, BYLINE: Good morning, David.
GREENE: So how much better have these testing levels gotten in the U.S.?
The nation is at a pivotal moment in the fight against the pandemic. Vaccines are finally starting to roll out, but the virus is spreading faster than ever and killing thousands of Americans daily. And it will be months before enough people get inoculated to stop it.
That means it s critical to continue the measures that can limit the toll: mask-wearing, hunkering down, hand-washing and testing and contact tracing. Vaccines will not obviate the need for testing any time soon, says Dr. Ashish Jha, the dean of the Brown School of Public Health. It doesn t mean we can let our guard down. The virus will not be gone.