American Oversight Sues for Coronavirus-Related Records

American Oversight today sued the Trump administration for failing to release records detailing early coronavirus testing decisions.

The United States’ failure to institute an early testing regime wasted at least a month, during which the coronavirus was able to spread largely undetected. Through the Freedom of Information Act, American Oversight is seeking documents from January, February and March to shed light on what happened during that time.

On March 5, American Oversight filed a FOIA request with the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) and the Food and Drug Administration (FDA), for all final directives, orders, decision memoranda, or guidance regarding testing for coronavirus. 

Today’s suit seeks to compel HHS and the FDA to respond to that request, and is part of American Oversight’s ongoing investigation into the Trump administration’s response to the coronavirus outbreak.

“The inability of this administration to rapidly ramp up our testing infrastructure may be one of the most costly failures in American history,” said Austin Evers, executive director of American Oversight. “The public deserves a rapid and full accounting of exactly what failures of leadership led to us being so far behind the curve.”