President Trump during a press briefing on Monday claimed the United States has "prevailed" on COVID-19 testing, even as experts say far more tests must be conducted daily.
Trump during a briefing on Monday afternoon said the U.S. is conducting about 300,000 coronavirus tests a day and promised that "it will go up substantially from that number." He also announced that $11 billion from the CARES Act is headed to states for testing.
The Week
Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.
Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
Asked later to clarify if he was suggesting that America has "prevailed" in the coronavirus pandemic even as the death toll on Monday passed 80,000, Trump said "you never prevail when you have" 80,000 deaths but then proceeded to claim the U.S. has, in fact, prevailed when it comes to testing.
"We've prevailed on testing, is what I'm referring to," Trump said. "We have prevailed. We have the best equipment anywhere in the world."
But experts have said the U.S. needs to ramp up its coronavirus testing much further, with Harvard's Global Health Institute saying the U.S. should be conducting more than 900,000 tests per day. Brendan Morrow
-
Ecuador rejects push to allow US military basesSpeed Read Voters rejected a repeal of a constitutional ban on US and other foreign military bases in the country
-
Trump pivots on Epstein vote amid GOP defectionsSpeed Read The president said House Republicans should vote on a forced release of the Justice Department’s Jeffrey Epstein files
-
Trump DOJ sues to block California redistrictingSpeed Read California’s new congressional map was drawn by Democrats to flip Republican-held House seats
-
GOP retreats from shutdown deal payout provisionSpeed Read Senators are distancing themselves from a controversial provision in the new government funding package
-
Catholic bishops rebuke Trump on immigrationSpeed Read ‘We feel compelled’ to ‘raise our voices in defense of God-given human dignity,’ the bishops said
-
House releases Epstein emails referencing TrumpSpeed Read The emails suggest Trump knew more about Epstein’s sex trafficking of underage women than he has claimed
-
Newsom slams Trump’s climate denial at COP30speed read Trump, who has called climate change a ‘hoax,’ declined to send any officials to this week’s summit
-
UK, Colombia halt intel to US over boat attacksSpeed Read Both countries have suspended intelligence sharing with the US over the bombing of civilian boats suspected of drug smuggling
