OFFICE OF THE MAYOR THE CITY OF New YORK Raul Perea-Henze. MD. MPH DEPUTY MAYOR FOR HEALTH AND HUMAN SERVICES February 20, 2020 Dear Drs. Red?eld and Jemigan, While I sincerely thank the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) for the tireless and robust response to COVID-19 in the United States and around the world, I?m following up on my letter dated February 21nd to express to you the urgency of getting testing capacity immediately in NYC. Now that Americans in the Hubei Province have returned to the United States, the country?s public health community must focus efforts on surveillance and detection of in our cities. The national network of public health laboratories, including the New York City Public Health Laboratory (NYC PHL), is critical to this next phase of the COVID-19 response. To successfully execute this phase of the response, we need essential tools including quality test kits and reagents, support for necessary equipment and instrumentation, and adequate funding for public health laboratory scientists. New York City is happy to support CDC in this process through our NYC PHL Given the issues with the initial deployment of the diagnostic assay, we request CDC take several steps to ef?ciently and rapidly redeploy a quality test kit comprised of trustworthy components. CDC should track performance of testing kits by requiring submission of data generated by public health laboratories as they verify the assay in their labs. This will enable the rapid detection of, and response to, any potential kit performance issues before kits are used to test patients. Laboratories should receive speci?c guidance on procedures to verify the test and what data must be submitted to CDC for review prior to local implementation. Importantly, all components of the test kit need thorough review to ensure there are no additional issues. Again, it is vital and urgent that NYC has local testing capacity to enable swi? detection of in order to reSpond quickly to protect the health of New Yorkers. NYC also asks that communication about the test and any issues is timely and transparent. The scientists at the NYC PHL stand ready to work directly with CDC to make this happen. As always, thank you for your partnership and commitment. Sincerel Raul Pere e, Mp, MPH CC: Mayor Bill de Blasio Emma Wolfe, Chief of Staff Dr. Oxiris Barbot, Commissioner of Health Dr. Demetre Daskalakis, Deputy Commissioner Disease Control