Trump packs false claims on Covid-19 testing into one tweet

Each single factual declare in a tweet President Donald Trump posted on Monday morning concerning the state of US coronavirus testing is both blatantly false or deceptive.

Whereas there’s legitimately excellent news on the testing entrance the president might be speaking about, like a gradual improve within the variety of checks accomplished per-day, his newest public touch upon the difficulty reads like a 279-character best hits of his favourite bogus speaking factors — blaming former President Barack Obama for a delay in check availability, overstating how a lot testing the US has already finished, and turning a blind eye to ongoing provide shortages the federal authorities has finished little to unravel.

Trump needs folks to imagine that coronavirus testing within the US has been a convincing success, and that there’s already sufficient testing capability to reopen companies — and thereby resuscitate the economic system forward of November’s election. Progress is the truth is being made, however we’re not there but. And for the reason that president has largely left states to fend for themselves in terms of constructing out testing capability, he actually shouldn’t be making an attempt to take credit score for latest tentative successes.

Trump packed 4 false or deceptive claims right into a single tweet

“Wow! The Entrance Web page @washingtonpost Headline reads, ‘A BOOST IN TESTS, BUT LACK OF TAKERS,’” Trump tweeted on Monday morning. “Now we have finished an amazing job on Ventilators, Testing, and all the pieces else. Have been left little by Obama. Over 11 million checks, and going up quick. Greater than all international locations on the planet, mixed.”

Earlier than we get to the Put up story Trump referenced, it’s price mentioning that his declare about being “left little by Obama” is totally absurd. As I’ve beforehand detailed on different events when Trump has tried to pin blame for testing points on his predecessor, the novel coronavirus that causes Covid-19 didn’t even exist till practically three years after Obama left workplace. So Obama would’ve needed to have been some form of time traveler to develop coronavirus checks throughout his time period.

It’s additionally not even near true that the US has examined “greater than all international locations on the planet, mixed.” In accordance with knowledge compiled by Worldometer, whereas the US leads the world with 11.9 million checks performed as of Might 18, the subsequent three international locations on the record — Russia (7.1 million), Germany (3.1 million), and Spain (Three million) — have finished extra checks collectively than the US. So it isn’t right to say that the US has finished extra checks than the subsequent three international locations mixed, not to mention the complete remainder of the world.

And the US is nowhere close to the highest of the record in terms of checks performed per 1 million folks. On that record, the US ranks an unimpressive 39th. And whereas Trump is within the behavior of touting the uncooked numbers of checks performed as a result of it portrays his coronavirus response in the very best mild, he’s detest to debate the whole numbers of deaths — the 90,996 deaths which have occurred within the US greater than doubles the second hardest-hit nation (the UK with 34,636).

There’s actual, excellent news that Trump might be speaking about

There’s no denying the US has made important progress on testing over the previous six weeks — in response to the Covid Monitoring Mission, the 422,024 checks accomplished on Sunday had been a single-day excessive — however the nation remains to be falling in need of the 500,000 checks per day specialists imagine is the minimal mandatory to totally management the outbreak.

Mockingly, the Washington Put up story Trump cited particulars how the federal authorities is hampering efforts to get the nation above that 500,000 threshold. Whereas the piece — written by Steve Thompson, Juliet Eilperin, and Brady Dennis — does talk about how some states have extra testing capability than they do folks in search of checks, it additionally particulars how a scarcity of provides and a nationwide testing technique is making it tough if not not possible for states to place that capability to good use.

From the article:

Lab capability stays untapped for a lot of causes, together with lingering provide shortages. Whereas most states say they’re now capable of check folks in hospitals, nursing houses, prisons and different front-line settings, many proceed to be hampered by a scarcity of non-public protecting gear (PPE), nasal swabs and reagents, the chemical substances essential to course of checks.

[…]

A nationwide technique might make [efforts to test more people] more practical, stated Danielle Allen, director of Harvard’s Edmond J. Safra Middle for Ethics, which final week printed a $74 billion street map that requires 24-hour contact tracing and isolation services for individuals who check optimistic. Though many states are constructing these providers, the patchwork method means scarce sources might not be effectively deployed.

As a substitute of deploying the huge sources of the federal authorities to obtain nasal swabs and reagents, Trump has largely left states to fend for themselves. Some, like Maryland, have resorted to purchasing check kits from international governments since assist from their very own hasn’t been enough. And fairly than develop a nationwide testing technique, Trump has been pushing for states to reopen their economies although only a few if any meet the gating standards for doing so developed by his personal administration’s coronavirus process power.

Whereas US testing numbers have been enhancing, coronavirus deaths within the nation are nonetheless falling between 1,000 and a pair of,000 most days — that means the nation is on monitor to hit the grim milestone of 100,000 coronavirus deaths earlier than the top of the month.

One of many causes the coronavirus outbreak has been so dangerous within the US is as a result of the nation fell means quick on testing in February and March, permitting the coronavirus to unfold throughout the nation in a largely undetected method. When Trump compares America’s uncooked testing numbers favorably with different international locations, he leaves out the essential context that governments in South Korea, Germany, and elsewhere had been capable of get the coronavirus beneath management early in a means the US wasn’t, as a result of that they had extra testing capability throughout a crucial interval.

That’s to not say that Trump shouldn’t share excellent news about will increase in testing capability with the American public. Nevertheless it’s price noting that even in instances when the reality would suffice, he can’t assist himself from unleashing a blizzard of false and deceptive claims.

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