In his Monday press conference, Donald Trump tried to answer critics of his failure to do adequate testing of the Coronavirus in this country. He seems stung by the criticism, and spent several minutes bragging about the testing in the United States. Sadly though, he was once again lying.
He bragged about this country doing 8 million tests. What he didn't say was that means only a tiny percentage of the population has been tested -- about 2.4%. That's certainly nothing to brag about.
He said that the U.S. was leading the world in per capita of its population is testing. That was an obvious lie. Note the chart above, It shows the countries leading in per capita testing (in this case per 1,000,000 of population). Note that at least 8 countries have tested a bigger portion of their population.
And finally, he said that anyone in this country that wants a test can get one. That was a lie when he said it a month ago, and it's still a lie. There are not enough tests in circulation to give everyone a test that wants one, and tests continue to be reserved for those who are showing symptoms of Coronavirus.
The truth is that the Trump administration sat on its hands forever two months instead of establishing a real testing program, and they are still trying to play catch-up. They turned down tests offered early by the World Health Organization, and then did not get serious about testing until mid-March (even though they had been warned as early a late December that the virus was coming.
The Trump administration screwed up, and they did it because Trump refused to listen to his intelligence services or public health officials. Now he is trying to rehabilitate his image. But the loss of American lives due to his incompetence continues to rise sharply -- and that cannot be fixed by more lies.
