Published 22:25 IST, March 13th 2020
Coronavirus testing to take place in the US on a large scale soon, claims Trump
On March 13, US President Donald Trump in a tweet said that coronavirus testing on a large scale will begin soon, and also criticised the CDC
Advertisement
On March 13, US President Donald Trump said that Coronavirus testing on a large scale will begin soon. While the US President tweeted this announcement, he did not provide any further information. The tweet was made in the context the Centers of Disease Control and the Obama administrations handling of pandemics in the past.
'Ready to go!'
In his tweets, Trump said that the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, which is one of U.S. organisations leading the fight against the deadly infection, had inadequate and slow testing methods for large scale pandemics. The US President didn't elaborate on what exactly these inadequacies were.
After that Trump said that all the 'Red Tape' had been cut and that large scale testing will begin soon. Trump also took this chance to criticise his predecessor, Obama, and claimed that the former President had made changes that made things all the more complicated.
For decades the @CDCgov looked at, and studied, its testing system, but did nothing about it. It would always be inadequate and slow for a large scale pandemic, but a pandemic would never happen, they hoped. President Obama made changes that only complicated things further.....
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) March 13, 2020
.... Their response to H1N1 Swine Flu was a full scale disaster, with thousands dying, and nothing meaningful done to fix the testing problem, until now. The changes have been made and testing will soon happen on a very large scale basis. All Red Tape has been cut, ready to go!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) March 13, 2020
According to reports, top U.S. official on infectious diseases, Anthony Fauci on March 12 claimed that the US testing system is not really equipped to handle the large volume of tests that are required. With such a low testing rate in the US, officials and lawmakers are struggling to understand how many people exactly have already contracted the virus.
22:25 IST, March 13th 2020