April 9, 2020 / Rachel Sandler, Forbes Staff
Topline: As public health experts and U.S. officials begin to think about how and when the country should start easing social distancing, President Donald Trump on Thursday said widespread testing “isn’t necessary, but would be a good thing to have” before the economy reopens.
- At the White House Coronavirus Task Force daily press briefing, Trump continued to praise the country’s testing capabilities, which have ramped up significantly in recent weeks. Public health experts say the U.S. needs more in order to lift social distancing restrictions.
- When asked if the country needs a nationwide testing system for the virus before people can start going back to work, Trump said, “No. We have a great testing system, the best testing system in the world.”
- Two former FDA commissioners, Mark McClellan and Scott Gottlieb, published a paper on Tuesday outlining the need for at least 750,000 tests per week (and later Gottlieb upped his estimate to 3.8 million tests per week) to contain the disease and reopen the country. When asked if that number is needed before the economy can open, Trump said, “I don’t like using the word ‘needed,’ because I don’t think it’s needed, but we are going to try and hit a number like that, that’s a very high number.”
- The U.S. has conducted 2.4 million tests total, according to the COVID-19 Tracking Project, an independent effort spearheaded by journalists at the Atlantic, far less than the testing need outlined by McClellan and Gottlieb.
