Trump Admin on March 21st: “We expect that, by March 28th, to be well over 27 million into the market.”
The Reality: Roughly 750,000 Coronavirus Tests Had Been Conducted in the U.S. by March 28.
A Month Later, Only 4 Million Coronavirus Tests Have Been Conducted in the U.S.
Protect Our Care’s Coronavirus War Room today is releasing a new video blasting the Trump administration for promising 27 million tests a month ago, when in reality only 4 million tests have been conducted.
“A month ago to this day, the Trump administration promised more than 27 million tests would be available by the end of March. But the reality is that less than 15% of that number have been conducted,” said Zac Petkanas, Coronavirus War Room Director. “Experts have said Trump’s failure to provide enough tests increased the number of cases in our country and continues to keep us at greater risk. Incredibly, under Trump’s leadership testing has slowed down because he neglected to secure enough basic supplies like swabs.”
“This failure to provide adequate testing is what we’ve come to expect from the Trump administration and it’s a direct contrast to what we’re seeing from other countries. Less than two months after their first confirmed coronavirus cases, South Korea had tested ten times as many people as the United States. Now, South Korea is re-opening their economy after only a few hundred deaths while thousands of Americans have lost their lives and millions of US workers are out of a job.”
“The time for excuses is over. Donald Trump’s broken promises are making us less safe.”
At a White House briefing on March 21st, Assistant Secretary for Health and Human Services Admiral Brett Giroir said that, “we expect that, by March 28th, to be well over 27 million into the market.”
But the reality is that it was just another broken promise by Trump.
Testing shortages remain despite experts agreeing aggressive testing is necessary to reopen the economy
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According to the Covid Tracking Project, which tracks publicly available testing information but does not have access to unreported data, 747,663 coronavirus tests had been conducted in the U.S. by March 28.
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According to Johns Hopkins University, as of 8:00 AM this morning 4,026,572 coronavirus tests have been conducted in the U.S.
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By the seventh week of coronavirus spread in the U.S., Trump HHS Secretary Alex Azar promised 4 million tests — but delivered only 25,200.
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On March 6th, Trump falsely claimed that, “anybody that needs a test gets a test.”
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Also on March 6th, Trump claimed that “millions” of tests were being made — although those tests have not yet materialized. For the past month, testing has stalled with only about 120,000 – 150,000 tests being conducted daily.
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The Washington Post reported that Trump promised scores of big-box retailers would offer parking lots for COVID-19 testing — but by late March, only five of them existed.
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And by mid-April, there were fewer than 20 testing locations out of thousands of stores nationwide.
While South Koreans are able to return to work after surpassing the U.S. in testing
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South Korea, however, was able to test 287,000 people eight weeks after its first confirmed coronavirus case while the United States was only able to test 55,000 people in the same time frame.
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And it took until this past weekend for the United States to catch up to South Korea and test as many people on a per capita basis.