COVID Testing Surplus Leaves Media Scrambling for Next Anti-Trump Narrative
Tests for the coronavirus have become widely available across the U.S., rendering the media’s constant criticism of President Donald Trump supposed failure to provide adequate COVID-19 testing null and void.
After four months of the coronavirus outbreak across the country, states have a surplus of tests but not enough people who need them.
According to a Washington Post survey, dozens of states reportedly have an abundance of test kits and services. The survey focused on governors’ offices and state health departments, and the results show positive data supporting the possibility of safely lifting stay-at-home orders and working toward normalizing Americans’ lives.
One state defying independent experts’ predictions, Utah, is conducting only 3,500 tests a day, with maximum capacity of 9,000, The Post reported.
In fact, health officials are practically begging people to get tested, with highway billboards stating “GET TESTED FOR COVID-19.”
Why is it that the president has been harshly criticized over testing by the media and top politicians, yet people are not showing up to utilize the now-abundantly available tests?
“It could be simply that people don’t want to be tested. It could be that people feel like they don’t need to be tested. It could be that people are so mildly symptomatic that they’re just not concerned that having a positive lab result would actually change their course in any meaningful way,” Utah Health Department spokesman Tom Hudachko theorized.
Florida has been a state that the president highlighted as a positive example.
“Ron DeSantis of Florida, the Governor, is doing a fantastic job in Florida. He said he’s got a little bit of the opposite problem. He’s got so much testing that people sit around and wait for people to come in; that they have a far — a great — overcapacity for testing, and there are numerous other states that have told me the same thing,” Trump said in a briefing on May 11. “That’s, by the way, a good problem not a bad problem.”
White House Press Secretary Kayleigh McEnany confirmed the statement that the president made about the state of Florida having an “over capacity for testing.”
“There were extra tests,” McEnany said. “There wasn’t enough demand. There weren’t people showing up to use them all.”
As of April 29, Los Angeles has had such ample testing available that the city is allowing any resident, regardless of symptoms, to get tested as frequently as they want.
Free COVID-19 testing is available to any L.A. County resident. https://t.co/13jZaOOegy
— MayorOfLA (@MayorOfLA) April 30, 2020
According to numbers given by The Associated Press by the mayor’s office, thousands of tests are not being used, The Associated Press reported.
The U.S. is currently testing over 300,000 people per day, according to data from the COVID Tracking Project. These numbers are twice that of last month’s average and have hit the goal the White House put in place.
“If people want to get tested, they get tested. We have the greatest capacity in the world,” the president stated in the same May 11 briefing.
Wow! The Front Page @washingtonpost Headline reads, “A BOOST IN TESTS, BUT LACK OF TAKERS.” We have done a great job on Ventilators, Testing, and everything else. Were left little by Obama. Over 11 million tests, and going up fast. More than all countries in the world, combined.
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) May 18, 2020
Regardless, the White House has been forced to waste its time defending the president from the fake news media and Democrat politicians’ constant barrage of attacks related to testing.
The president has had to contend with fake news criticism, initial tests shortages thanks to the president before him, and defiance from obstinate politicians, but yet he succeeds not just for himself, but for the American people as a whole.
I’ll give the anti-Trump media one thing, they certainly are persistent. From the Russia-collusion hoax and impeachment sham to testing shortages, they always find some nonsense to fill the airwaves.
The only real question is what they’ll come up with next, now that this narrative has failed them.
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