Conservative media figures, Republican lawmakers and even a former high-ranking White House official have complained in recent days about the country’s insufficient amount of evidence and delays in test results.
However, Trump sometimes advocated less evidence, describing it as a “double-edged sword” and telling supporters at a campaign rally last month that he had ordered administration officials to “stop the evidence.”
But the president has also maintained that the United States’ trial operation is “far superior” to that of any other nation, and boasted that the federal government “has done things that few countries could have done.”
Meanwhile, communities across the South and Southwest have reported a record number of cases in the past month, and the administration is turning to pooled tests to ease demand for Covid-19 testing. Public health experts and testing labs are skeptical that the strategy works in the U.S.
Trump tested negative for the coronavirus in March and again in April. After one of Trump’s personal military aides became infected in May, the White House announced that Trump, Vice President Mike Pence, and White House employees who contacted the president would be screened every day.
Trump later that month praised the Abbott Laboratories 15-minute rapid test used to assess White House staff and visitors, saying it was a “very good test.” Very portable. Very fast.”
More than 46 million tests for coronavirus have been administered in the U.S., more than 3.8 million Americans tested positive, and more than 141,000 died from the disease.
According to data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, the actual number of US coronavirus cases so far could be six to 24 times greater than official figures show.
