Fauci: US needs to double COVID testing before reopening economy
Without sarcasm, Trump’s disinforming claims of the total number of tests have little to do with the number of per capita tests needed. Trump says he disagrees with Fauci comments that U.S. needs more coronavirus testing. In January, Trump did not push for adequate testing.
The U.S. should at least double coronavirus testing in the coming weeks before easing into reopening the economy, the government’s top infectious disease expert said Saturday.
National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases Director Anthony Fauci said the U.S. now churns through about 1.5 million to 2 million tests a week.
“We probably should get up to twice that as we get into the next several weeks, and I think we will,” he said during the National Academy of Sciences annual meeting.
Public health experts have called for increased testing to get a clearer picture of the pandemic’s scope, as well as to identify, isolate and trace contacts for infected patients.[…]
Rapidly scaling up testing could be complicated by supply chain challenges, and will require careful national coordination, as POLITICO has reported.
Fauci emphasized that his comments applied to diagnosing active infections and not to the antibody tests that can reflect if a patient was previously infected with the virus.
Today is Saturday. That means @realDonaldTrump is misleading the American people, again. Of the top five countries with highest cases, US is second last in testing per capita. And if the tests of Spain, Italy, France, Germany & UK were combined, they exceed US.#SaturdayThoughts https://t.co/3Z2v39V4ge
— Ted Lieu (@tedlieu) April 25, 2020
A previous tweet of this quote did not make it adequately clear that it is Trump who did not push for adequate testing, not Secretary of Health and Human Services Azar. Here is the whole quote for context. @ddiamond pic.twitter.com/ZZ2aPF53m6
— Fresh Air (@nprfreshair) March 12, 2020
“I predict that as November nears, more and more exiles will speak out, sharing alarming accounts of life inside the president’s hall of mirrors.”@FrankBruni has this right. The calculus of the knowing silent will shift as the likelihood and imminence of Trump’s demise builds. https://t.co/g3XHANn2Mf
— George Conway (@gtconway3d) April 25, 2020
Take that crying towel home to be bleached…
Trump officials are debating a "liability shield" that would prevent businesses that re-open from being sued by customers who contract coronavirus.
Fmr. OSHA official: "This is one of the most appalling things I've heard in the context of this crisis."https://t.co/bTwwT7uDeh
— Kyle Griffin (@kylegriffin1) April 25, 2020
