WHAT’S THE TRUTH?

Trump Dodges Question on Whether He Ordered Coronavirus Testing Slowdown

After claiming at his Saturday rally that he’d ordered testing to be slowed down.

President Donald Trump dodged questions about whether he had ordered coronavirus testing to be slowed down in an interview Monday. “If we did slow it down, frankly I think we’re way ahead of ourselves, if you want to know the truth,” Trump said. “We’ve done too good a job.” Trump had claimed during his rally on Saturday night that he had ordered testing to be slowed down—but White House Press Secretary Kayleigh McEnany on Monday downplayed his assertion. “It’s a comment that he made in jest, it’s a comment that he made in passing,” McEnany said.

Trump on Saturday also claimed that the United States has been outpacing other countries in testing, stating that while other countries “do 1 million,” the U.S. has performed 25 million tests. He insisted that if the U.S. slowed testing down, fewer cases of the deadly disease would be reported. According to The Independent, the rate of coronavirus testing in the U.S. is significantly lower than other nations. While the U.S. has administered between 20 and 40 tests per confirmed case, countries including Finland, Germany, Italy, Spain, and South Korea have administered between 1,000 and 5,000 tests per confirmed case.