White House press secretary says idea that all Americans need to be tested for COVID-19 is 'nonsensical'

Kayleigh McEnany.
(Image credit: Saul Loeb/AFP via Getty Images)

White House Press Secretary Kayleigh McEnany on Wednesday rejected the idea that every American should receive COVID-19 testing before returning to work.

President Trump has said he's been tested multiple times for COVID-19, with the tests all coming back negative. On Tuesday, he visited a Phoenix facility that makes masks, but did not have a face covering of his own. A reporter asked McEnany about this, adding, "Why shouldn't all Americans who go back to work be able to get a test before they do?"

"If we tested every single American in this country at this moment, we'd have to retest them an hour later, and then an hour later after that, because at any moment you could theoretically contract this virus," McEnany responded. "So the notion that everyone needs to be tested is just simply nonsensical."

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Earlier in the day, Trump said the United States is continuously conducting more COVID-19 tests, so it will "have more cases" than other countries. "In a way, by doing all this testing, we make ourselves look bad," he added.

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Catherine Garcia, The Week US

Catherine Garcia is night editor for TheWeek.com. Her writing and reporting has appeared in Entertainment Weekly and EW.com, The New York Times, The Book of Jezebel, and other publications. A Southern California native, Catherine is a graduate of the University of Redlands and the Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism.