Former Vice President Joe Biden has penned an op-ed calling for ramped up coronavirus testing and condemning the White House as those around President Trump are tested for COVID-19 daily.
In an op-ed for The Washington Post published on Monday, Biden, the presumptive Democratic nominee for president, argues Trump "isn't up to the task" of providing states with "the tools, resources and guidance they need from the federal government to reopen safely and sustainably," saying "we need widespread testing" to do so.
Biden noted that that Trump, Vice President Mike Pence, and White House officials are now receiving COVID-19 tests every day, writing, "They knew exactly how to make the Oval Office safe and operational, and they put in the work to do it. They just haven't put in that same work for the rest of us." He says Trump "should be working to get Americans the same necessary protections he has gotten for himself."
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Several people in Trump's orbit have tested positive for COVID-19, including Katie Miller, a spokesperson for Pence. After Miller tested positive, Trump claimed, "this is why the whole concept of tests aren't necessarily great. The tests are perfect, but something can happen between a test, where it's good, and then something happens."
Dr. Anthony Fauci, head of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases and member of Trump's task force, said late last month that everybody who needs a test for COVID-19 should hopefully be able to get one by the end of May or beginning of June. Trump previously asserted in early March that "anybody that wants a test can get a test" already, which Biden slams as a "a baldfaced lie when he said it, and it still isn't remotely true." Trump is set to hold a press briefing focused on coronavirus testing on Monday afternoon.
