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FACT CHECK: Trump Tries to Spin His Testing Failures as 100k Americans Die of Coronavirus 

By May 27, 2020May 29th, 2020No Comments

FACT CHECK: Trump Tries to Spin His Testing Failures as 100k Americans Die of Coronavirus 

As the United States nears 100,000 lives lost because of the coronavirus, President Trump is trying to again mislead the American people on his testing failures. 

This morning, Trump tweeted: 

Here’s the truth about Trump’s testing record: 

It Took the US Four Months to Conduct 15 Million Tests — It Took Wuhan, China 10 Days to Test 9 Million

After Wuhan, China Detected A Handful Of New Coronavirus Cases, The City Tested 9 Million Of its 11 Million Residents In Ten Days. “The central Chinese city of Wuhan said early Monday that it had collected coronavirus swab tests from more than nine million of its 11 million people over the past 10 days, an ambitious response to the re-emergence of a handful of fresh cases this month at the initial center of the pandemic. Most of those nine million samples have already been processed, according to a daily record of nucleic-acid tests by Wuhan health authorities. As of Sunday, they said, the mass testing identified 218 asymptomatic carriers of the coronavirus, who were put under quarantine and monitored for symptoms. Just one of those cases was later recategorized as a confirmed case.” [Wall Street Journal, 5/25/20]

On May 27, More Than Four Months After Its First Coronavirus Case, The US Reported Having Conducted Nearly 15 Million Tests. According to Johns Hopkins University, the U.S. had conducted almost 15 million tests by May 27, more than four months after its first reported coronavirus case.

The United States Still Lacks the Testing Capacity Experts Say Is Needed to Reopen Safely

Harvard Global Health Institute Faculty Director Dr. Ashish Jha: “Testing Was The Fundamental Failure That Forced Our Country To Shut Down.” Dr. Jha said: “Every expert on the left, right, and center agrees that we had to shut our economy down because the outbreak got too big because we didn’t have a testing infrastructure that allowed us to put our arms around the outbreak. And so testing was the fundamental failure that forced our country to shut down.” [Twitter, Coronavirus War Room, 5/13/20]

Harvard Global Health Institute Director Dr. Ashish Jha Estimates That The United States Needs To Conduct “At Least 900,000 Tests Per Day.” “And 300,000 daily tests would be insufficient even for mitigation, Dr. Jha said, estimating that would require at least 900,000 tests per day.” [New York Times, 5/25/20]

  • Harvard Global Health Institute Director Dr. Ashish Jha Said Of The Trump Administration’s Testing Plan: “The Idea That 300,000 Tests A Day Is Enough For America Is Absurd.” “‘On the face of it, the idea that 300,000 tests a day is enough for America is absurd,’ said Dr. Ashish Jha, director of the Harvard Global Health Institute.” [New York Times, 5/25/20]

Harvard Safra Center For Ethics Director Danielle Allen Emphasized That Multiple Models Pointed To The US Needing Around 3 Million Tests A Day. “The H.H.S. report noted that an analysis by the Safra Center at Harvard estimated the need at more than three million tests per day. But the federal report said that estimate was based on faulty assumptions. The Safra authors who crafted the estimate said that the federal report had cherry-picked one simple example from their analysis without considering other evidence. ‘We ran multiple models, all of which pointed to the same order of magnitude,’ said Danielle Allen, director of the Safra Center. ‘They’ve selected one non-primary model in an appendix and selectively adjusted assumptions to generate a different number.’” [New York Times, 5/25/20]

The U.S. Still Lags Behind the 5 Million Tests Trump Said Would Be Coming “Very Soon” and Other Benchmarks Members of His Administration Have Set

On April 28, Trump Said The United States Would Surpass 5 Million Tests A Day “Very Soon.” “Five hours later, when a reporter asked Trump at the White House if the country would reach five million daily tests, as the Harvard study recommended, Trump responded: ‘We’ll increase it, and it’ll increase it by much more than that in the very near future.’ Asked to clarify if he meant the U.S. would ‘surpass 5 million tests per day,’ Trump said, ‘We’re going to be there very soon.’” [Time, 4/28/20]

The Trump Administration Expected To Have “Well Over 27 Million” Coronavirus Tests In The Market By March 28, 2020. Assistant Secretary for Health and Human Services Admiral Brett Giroir said of coronavirus tests at a White House press conference: “We expect that, by March 28th, to be well over 27 million into the market.” [White House Press Conference, 3/21/20]

On March 6, Trump Falsely Claimed “Anybody That Needs A Test Gets A Test.” “”Anybody right now and yesterday — anybody that needs a test gets a test. We — they’re there. They have the tests. And the tests are beautiful. Anybody that needs a test gets a test. If there’s a doctor that wants to test, if there’s somebody coming off a ship — like the big monster ship that’s out there right now, which, you know — again, that’s a big decision.” [Donald Trump, Briefing At the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, 3/6/20]

States Are Still Struggling to Get the Supplies They Need to Conduct Enough Tests to Manage the Virus’ Spread 

HHS’ So-Called Testing Plan Outlined That The Federal Government Would Acquire 100 Million Swabs And 100 Million Tubes Of Viral Transport Media — Enough For Only 20 Days Of Testing At The Levels Trump Promised. “To ensure that States have the collection supplies that they need through December 2020, the Federal government plans to acquire 100 million swabs and 100 million tubes of viral transport media, and distribute these supplies to States as requested to meet their individual State plans. This large-scale acquisition reflects a significant expansion of current capacity and is a result of the broadening of available swab and media types authorized by the FDA and use of Title III of the Defense Production Act (DPA) to increase production of swabs.” [HHS, COVID-19 Strategic Testing Plan, 5/24/20]

Johns Hopkins University Epidemiologist Jennifer Nuzzo Said Of The Trump Administration’s Supposed Testing Plan: “States Should Not Have To Negotiate With Foreign Countries For Testing Supplies.” “States are making progress in expanding testing & decreasing their positivity. But they need help. We will not control the virus and restore the US economy until all states have the tools they need. States should not have to negotiate with foreign countries for testing supplies.” [Twitter, Dr. Jennifer Nuzzo, 5/26/20]

Associated Press: “The Trump Administration’s New Strategy For Coronavirus Testing Puts Much Of The Burden On States While Promising To Provide Supplies Such As Swabs And Material To Transport Specimens.” “The Trump administration’s new strategy for coronavirus testing puts much of the burden on states while promising to provide supplies such as swabs and material to transport specimens. The plan, which was delivered Sunday to members of Congress, drew harsh criticism Monday from Democrats.’” [Associated Press, 5/25/20]