The Standard & Poor’s 500 opened higher today–by 0.65%–a typical reaction the day after a big drop.

But stocks quickly reversed direction and by 11:20 a.m. New York time on Tuesday morning, the S&P 500 was down 1.33%.

One of the big problems in generating a sustained bounce from yesterdays plunge is that the market is aware of a huge coronavirus unknown: We simply don’t know what the status of the virus outbreak is in the United States. The United States has just 14 confirmed cases of the coronavirus, but most infectious disease experts don’t believe the number.

Despite reassurances from President Donald Trump and administration officials that everything is under control, facts indicate that no one knows anything about the incidence of the coronavirus in the United States because there has been almost no testing among people presenting with respiratory distress or who stand a good chance of having been exposed to someone with the virus.

South Korea, the site of the worst outbreak outside of China, has run more than 35,000 coronavirus tests. The United States has tested just 426 people for the virus, not including people who have returned to the country on evacuation flights.

Testing kits sent out by the federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention a week and a half ago turned out to include expired chemicals that rendered them useless. Most states and cities don’t have any means for testing for the virus and have to send to the CDC in Atlanta for testing.

The case of a man in Boston who presented with a respiratory infection at a hospital is a good example of the problem. Doctors tested the man for flu and the test came back negative. But they could not test him for the coronavirus because they didn’t have a test kit.

The CDC seems to be intent on pretending that the testing problem isn’t a problem but instead a well thought out policy. Current U.S. guidelines are very narrow and recommend testing for a very narrow group of people who display respiratory symptoms of the disease AND who have recently traveled to China or had close contact with an infected person.

On Friday the CC said it wasn’t ready to broaden its testing, but said that a  a pilot of expanded testing in five cities should be “on track” for this week. Today, however, a spokesperson for the agency said that CDC could not commit to shipping the new test by the end of this week.