There’s reason for optimism on the coronavirus pandemic: The number of new Covid-19 cases is dropping, and 98.2 million doses of coronavirus vaccines have been administered in the United States. But a decline in the number of coronavirus tests being conducted threatens this progress, because those tests are vital to tracing the path and velocity of Covid-19.

The average number of tests being conducted daily to detect the coronavirus in the United States has dropped 20 percent since Feb. 1. At the same time, the nation does not have enough rapid tests to conduct routine testing outside of sites run by local health departments and medical clinics. America needs to expand the nation’s testing capacity and accelerate the proliferation of rapid coronavirus tests in order to overcome Covid-19.

What’s in the huge pandemic relief bill for science? $1.9 trillion measure expected to become law by Friday Science | AAAS

A massive $1.9 trillion pandemic relief bill now on its way to President Joe Biden’s desk will deliver cash to a wide array of groups—including the scientific community.

The U.S. House of Representatives today approved final passage of the bill, which Biden is expected to sign on Friday, on a 220–211 party-line vote.

FDA authorizes new test to detect past Covid-19 infections The T-Detect COVID test, developed by Adapative Biotechnologies with help from Microsoft, was built with machine learning. Katie Palmer STAT

The Food and Drug Administration on Friday issued an emergency authorization for a new test to detect Covid-19 infections — one that stands apart from the hundreds already authorized.