Trump Falsely Says COVID-19 Surge ‘Only’ Due to Testing, Misleads on Deaths
With some states posting record numbers of new COVID-19 cases, President Donald Trump continues to downplay the concern, falsely asserting that cases are up “only because of our big number testing,” and pointing to the falling number of daily COVID-19 deaths.
Data shows that in many places, the uptick in cases outstrips the increase in testing — and experts say it’s too soon to know whether a surge in deaths will follow.
In recent weeks, the number of new coronavirus cases in the U.S. has spiked, particularly in places such as Texas, Arizona and Florida, each of which has broken records for the highest number of newly reported infections.
Trump, however, has repeatedly denied that the rise in cases reflects increased transmission of the virus, and has instead insisted that increased testing is the cause.
The president began pinning the blame on testing as early as June 15, when in a tweet he said that because U.S. testing “is so much bigger and more advanced than any other country … it shows more cases.” He called testing a “double edged sword” because it is “good to” have, but “[m]akes us look bad.”
As we have explained before, the United States’ testing program has not performed as many tests as other countries given the size of the nation’s outbreak. And while testing can explain some of the additional cases, it fails to account for all of them, as the proportion
