"They Are Dying. It Is What It Is." -- The Trump Response

"They are dying, that's true. And it is what it is. But that doesn't mean we aren't doing everything we can. It's under control, as much as you can control it."

– Donald Trump

President Trump said his administration has done an "incredible" job handling the coronavirus pandemic, and despite rising deaths, the outbreak is "under control" in a wide-ranging and contentious interview that aired on HBO on August 3.

Axios national political correspondent Jonathan Swan conducted the interview. During the session, Trump repeated his claim that the high number of cases in the USA is due to the high rate of testing

Trump: "You know there are those that say you can test too much. You do know that."

Swan: "Who says that?"

Trump: "Just read the manuals, read the books.”

Swan: "Manuals? What manuals?"

Trump: "Read the books.”

Swan: "What books?"

Trump didn't specify what experts or materials he was referring to. Trump conceded that in some places, test results were not available quickly enough.

When Swan cited rising deaths from COVID-19 in the USA, Trump argued that in comparison with other nations, the United States handled the virus well. Trump produced a chart that he said showed the USA was lower in the number of deaths per confirmed cases.

A glimpse of the graph showed it compared four lines of data, so it was unclear what the U.S. was being measured against since there are more than 190 countries in the world.

The U.S. does have a lower percentage of deaths per confirmed cases than several nations, including most members of the European Union. But the U.S. rate is higher than 98 other nations, including Australia, Japan and South Korea, according to data compiled by Statista.

(William Cummings and Courtney Subramanian. “'It is what it is,' Trump says of rising coronavirus death toll as he insists outbreak is 'under control.'” USA Today. August 4, 2020.)

“It is what it is”? Trump reduces the effects of the deadly pandemic to a trite idiomatic phrase. His offhand response is irresponsible and indicative of his flaming political aspirations to open the county to bolster his reelection.

“It’s going to be tough right now because the case numbers are so highthat to do really efficient testing, tracing, and isolation, we’re going to need a whole lot of tests. “

– Tara Smith, an epidemiologist at Kent State University

“You can test too much”? Trump evidently studies manuals and books that either don't exist or don't follow science. Many experts say we still need more tests. Without sufficient testing even when cases are low, those cases can go undetected, possibly by people who have mild or no symptoms and are out in the community spreading the disease to more people. This becomes an even higher risk as cities and states start to reopen.

A fair analogy is a forest fire. If you have a handful of small brush fires, you can find them and control them. If you don’t know they’re there, they can quickly turn into a raging forest fire that is much harder to control.

“We are finally hitting the numbers that we needed to hit in March, but it’s July. And in that interim, hundreds of thousands of new cases have erupted.”

– Dr. Thomas Tsai, a surgeon and researcher at Harvardwho co-authored the testing analysis

The majority of states and U.S. are lagging behind in testing. Testing sites and labs are struggling to meet the increased demand for testing, resulting in long lines in places like Texas, Florida, and California. Some people have to wait for hours in the sweltering summer heat to get tested; others have been turned away entirely.

(Meg Dalton. “The State of COVID Testing Across the U.S.” The Takeaway. July 15, 2020.)

People aren’t just seeing delays in waiting to get tested, but also with the results of those tests. It can take days, sometimes weeks, to know if you’re positive for COVID-19. And that slow turnaround might just undermine other efforts to slow the spread of the virus in the U.S., things like contact tracing and self-isolation of those infected.

(Karina Elwood. “Getting a COVID-19 test? You could wait weeks for a result, as Florida labs struggle with volume.” South Florida Sun Sentinel. July 10, 2020.)

The world hit the grim milestone of 19 million cases late August 6. The U.S. also crossed the 160,000 mark for deaths. These deaths from COVID-19 continued to increase for the fifth straight week, according to The COVID Tracking Project. This week, 7,591 deaths were reported, up 11.5% from the week before, it found.

The steady increases follow surges in new cases in June and July. More people have died so far in August than were reported in the month of March, it also noted.

(Morgan Winsor, Emily Shapiro, and Meredith Deliso. “US COVID-19 death toll rises for 5th straight week.” ABC News. August 06, 2020.)

I can't believe the president believes the U.S. government has done “everything it could” to control COVID-19. Statistics prove that is a lie. And, just ask the American public. Trump faces major criticism for his slow response and his continued denial of the scope of the problem.

According to a Pew Research Center survey (July 27-August 2, 2020), a sizable majority of U.S. adults (69%) say their greater concern with a rise in coronavirus cases is that state governments have been lifting restrictions on public activity too quickly. Fewer than half as many, just 30%, say their bigger concern is that states have been too slow to lift the restrictions.

About six-in-ten Americans (62%) say the U.S. response to the coronavirus outbreak has been less effective when compared with other wealthy countries, while just 13% say its response has been more effective. A quarter say the U.S. has been about as effective as other wealthy countries.

The survey finds that a majority of Americans (60%) say the primary reason that the number of confirmed coronavirus cases is increasing is because there are more new infections, not just more testing for the disease.

About half of Americans (53%) say an inadequate response by the federal government is a major reason the outbreak has continued, while nearly as many (49%) cite a lack of timely testing. Smaller shares point to unclear instructions about how to prevent the spread of the coronavirus (40%) and that it is not possible to do much to control its spread (28%) as major reasons.