Trump’s Daily Coronavirus Testing Should End Immediately
By: Sandra Boruta
Tags: Healthcare, Covid 19, Trump Administration, Trump, Coronavirus

Trump’s Daily Coronavirus Testing Should End Immediately

While the average American doesn’t have access to quick COVID-19 testing, the president and his staff receive them daily — and you’re paying for them. Sandra Boruta Jul 19, 2020·3 min read

Photo by Charles Deluvio on Unsplash

This week, President Trump’s inaction has made his lack of interest in COVID-19 response efforts abundantly evident. While Trump and his staff remain cushioned from the virus, the rest of Americans are not.

The president, staff that works close to the president, and the vice president are tested for covid-19 daily using the rapid Abbott test. The results of this test are given within 5 minutes. The Executive Office of the President has spent $140,000 on Abbott test kits alone. The purchase was funded by American tax dollars.

While the president and those in his circle have easy access to testing that produces almost immediate results, Americans face up to seven days to receive test results. Additionally, many patients are denied access to tests altogether, even with a federally funding program in tact. Yesterday however, the Washington Post reported that the Trump administration plans to de-fund testing:

The Trump administration is trying to block billions of dollars for states to conduct testing and contact tracing in the upcoming coronavirus relief bill, people involved in the talks said Saturday. The administration is also trying to block billions of dollars that GOP senators want to allocate for the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, and billions more for the Pentagon and State Department to address the pandemic at home and abroad, the people said.

As the number of coronavirus cases and covid-19 deaths within the U.S. continues to grow exponentially, the Trump administration is now seeking to de-fund testing altogether. Testing that is already very difficult to receive, while several factors indicate that there are currently surges in transmission and illness. The number of available ICU beds within the country are decreasing at an alarming rate and some morgues are now full. In Neuces County, Texas, the medical examiner has requested a FEMA morgue trailer for COVID-19 victims. These factors show that opposite to what the president is saying, the cases aren’t increasing due to testing alone. If beds and morgues are filling up, they are not filling up with those that merely have a positive test. They are filling up with those that are severely ill or deceased.

While it’s clear the president and his staff are insulated from the crisis, the rest of the country is not. The president continues to downplay the risks and the seriousness of this epidemic. He continually claims that the country’s poor statistics are due to an increase in testing while experts say otherwise.

Why the constant dishonesty from the president? Does he lack an understanding of basic science? Has he run out of ideas to change the path the country is currently on? Does he think if he stops dealing with it head-on, his potential voters will forget that almost 140,000 Americans have died of the virus? Or is it general ignorance and an honest belief that the country is on the right path and improving?

What this amounts to, is that the citizens of the United States are being forced to pay for testing for the president and his staff, for a virus that he doesn’t take seriously. Perhaps if the president was forced to deal with the harsh reality of the virus as average Americans citizens are — he would wake up to actual reality.

If Trump sees something that the vast majority of the country, including infectious disease experts, leading healthcare workers, and scientists don’t see, and things are genuinely improving, then Trump should have no issue discontinuing daily coronavirus testing for he and his staff. The president needs to put his money where his mouth is and if he plans to de-fund the already poor system of testing Americans are subject to, his testing also needs to be de-funded.

For information on how to contact your congressional representatives, please visit here. Demand that your representatives insist the daily testing for the president be discontinued until the president accepts and acknowledges that tests are not widely available and that the need for testing is urgent and vital.

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