Trump’s Claim U.S. Has Tested More People For COVID-19 Than Other Countries, Other Statements On Pandemic Are Exaggerated, Fact Checkers Show

PolitiFact: Donald Trump’s claim that U.S. tested more than all countries combined is Pants on Fire wrong
“…The president has made a habit of exaggerating the United States’ capacity for COVID-19 diagnostic testing. But the health system has ramped up its testing since its slow start during the first weeks of the American outbreak. So we wanted to check back. How many people here have been tested? And has the U.S. tested more people than ‘every country combined’? We emailed the White House for comment but never heard back, so we turned to the data. Trump’s claim didn’t stand up to scrutiny…” (Luthra, 4/30).

Washington Post: Trump’s triumphant rhetoric on coronavirus testing
“…[T]he Trump administration bungled its initial effort to get a broad-based testing regime in place for the new coronavirus and has been playing catch-up ever since. But now the United States has conducted more than 5 million tests, more than any other country. That would seem to be a good talking point for President Trump. But it also lacks important context, because what really matters is how many tests are performed per million people. Moreover, Trump keeps exaggerating the statistics or making claims that turned out to be incorrect. ‘Anyone who wants a test can get a test,’ he declared March 6, a statement so false it needed to be corrected the next day by Health and Human Services Secretary Alex Azar. Here’s a tour through Trump’s recent rhetoric on testing…” (Kessler, 4/30).

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