Truth or Consequences: Trump on Slowing Down COVID-19 Testing

“And don’t forget, we have more cases than anybody in the world. But why? Because we do more testing. When you test, you have a case. When you test, you find something is wrong with people. If we didn’t do any testing, we would have very few cases.”

– President Trump, speech at medical supply distributor
in Allentown, Pennsylvania, in May, 2020

"When you do testing to that extent, you’re going to find more people, you’re going to find more cases. So I said to my people, ‘Slow the testing down, please.’” 

-- President Trump, speech at rally in Tulsa, Oklahoma, in June, 2020

These are the words of a U.S. president in the middle of a COVID-19 pandemic. His misunderstanding of testing as it relates to the virus is disturbing and, frankly, very dangerous. Trump's motivation for “slowing down testing” is evidently rooted in his financial concerns despite the obvious danger to the health of the nation.

Trump should not be given a pass for these remarks as many of his supporters write them off as “indicative of his nature” or “just kidding.” His reckless nature should be identified and strongly condemned. He should be accountable.

Dr. Eduardo Sanchez, American Heart Association Chief Medical Officer for Prevention, tells us why testing is so important. Sanchez says …

1. “When a communicable disease outbreak begins, the ideal response is for public health officials to begin testing for it early.”
2. “That leads to quick identification of cases, quick treatment for those people and immediate isolation to prevent spread. Early testing also helps to identify anyone who came into contact with infected people so they too can be quickly treated.
3. I”t's crucial of course to help treat, isolate or hospitalize people who are infected. Testing also is important in the bigger public health picture on mitigation efforts, helping investigators characterize the prevalence, spread and contagiousness of the disease.”
4. “Knowing who has been infected also is important because people with immunity from COVID-19 can safely work in essential settings such as health care, public safety and the service industry. They also can work in "non-essential" settings with less need for extreme personal protection.”
5. Furthermore, for clinical care, testing for seroconversion – the technical name for the process of going from non-infected to infected to immune – can identify people whose plasma contains COVID-19-specific antibodies.

(Dr. Eduardo Sanchez. “COVID-19 science: Why testing is so important.”

American Heart Association. April 2, 2020.)

The data from testing can provide important puzzle pieces for stopping or slowing the disease in the future. And, consider this – knowing the result of a test allows rational individual decisions.

Testing is a major weapon in the arsenal against COVID-19.

“COVID-19 testing, when integrated with social distancing policies, becomes a formidable weapon against the pandemic. This is how it works: In the first instance, all patients who need to be hospitalized will be tested for COVID-19. Those with influenza are treated with antivirals specific for the flu, but those with COVID-19 are isolated with special procedures to prevent the spread of the virus. This is essential to protect nurses, doctors and other health care professionals from being infected.”

(Edison Liu, Jill Goldthwait. “Why Testing for COVID-19 Is So Important.”

The Jackson Library. March 26, 2020.)

Patrice A. Harris, MD, MA, Immediate Past President of the American Medical Association, tells us …

“It is critically important that we dramatically expand our testing capacity, both diagnostic and antibody testing. Only through that expansion will we have the data and information necessary for public health officials to determine when it is safe to resume a semi-normal way of life. Diagnostic testing tells us who is currently infected, so these individuals can be safely isolated to prevent further spread, while contact tracing is conducted to quarantine those who were exposed. For public health agencies to effectively conduct contact tracing, they will need to rapidly recruit, train and deploy a substantial new public health workforce.”

The scientific evidence is clear – the United States must expand testing to fight the pandemic. To ignore this advice or to refute it creates an environment much less safe and much more deadly. It also adds fire to the arguments of those who insist COVID-19 is “just a flu” and not that dangerous. On this day, June 25, the nation has experienced 121,000 deaths and record spikes in the number of cases in many states. Would you listen to Donald Trump or to the medical professionals? The choice is yours. It is not really a consideration at all … unless you simply wish to risk the lives of your fellow human beings.