EDITORIAL: Testing For COVID Still Isn’t Sufficient

Jul. 25--Listen to President Donald Trump describe the state of COVID-19 testing in the U.S., and you might assume he's speaking about a different country altogether.

Days after repeating his claims that "we have the best testing in the world" and "the cases are created because of the fact that we do tremendous testing," Trump this week resisted attempts by Senate Republicans to include more funding for virus testing in the latest federal relief package. In a Fox News interview Wednesday, the president doubled down on his asinine, enormously stupid theory that fewer COVID cases would exist if we administered fewer tests.

"Every time you test, you find a case, and you know, it gets reported in the news we found more cases," Trump said. "If, instead of 50, we did 25, we would have half the number of cases. So, I personally think it's overrated. But I am totally willing to keep doing it. ... And I'm OK with it. The experts are saying it's a good thing to do. But again, it makes us look bad, but they say it's good. I don't mind looking bad, if it's a good thing."

Trump's comments reveal the thinking of a man more concerned with things that "make us look bad" than with a deadly pandemic that has already killed more than 140,000 of his fellow Americans. The governors, mayors and health care workers on the front lines of the fight against the virus have different opinions about the value of COVID testing.

Governors from Trump's own Republican Party are growing increasingly fed up with the struggle to procure virus tests in sufficient quantities. Utah Gov. Gary Herbert lamented last week: "Testing has been a challenge everywhere." Gov. Larry Hogan of Maryland was more blunt in a Washington Post op-ed.

"So many nationwide actions could have been taken in those early days but weren't. While other countries were racing ahead with well-coordinated testing regimes, the Trump administration bungled the effort," Hogan wrote. "Meanwhile, instead of listening to his own public health experts, the president was talking and tweeting like a man more concerned about boosting the stock market or his re-election plans."

A surge in new cases from this second, wholly preventable wave of coronavirus across the Sun Belt has overwhelmed testing sites, forcing people to wait for hours in the summer heat at drive-through sites. Worse yet, the backlog of testing has forced people to wait days or even weeks to learn the results, rendering the work of contact tracers virtually impossible.

"It's almost like, what are we accomplishing in that time?" said CEO Jay Solomon of the Aviva senior community in Sarasota, Florida, in an Associated Press interview. "If that person is not quarantined in that 7-10 days, are they spreading without realizing it?"

Dr. Deborah Birx of the White House coronavirus task force warned this week that such delays are unacceptable, and Adm. Brett Giroir, the assistant health secretary, recommended that those recovering from COVID abstain from being retested to ensure they've recovered, saying such tests are "clogging up the system."

But the fact that such shortages and delays still exist months into this crisis is an indictment this White House's misplaced priorities. As health care workers scramble to procure tests and get the results in a timely fashion, pro sports leagues set to resume play at Trump's urging are consuming vast quantities of tests from the same companies struggling to keep up with public demand. BioReference, the firm providing tests for the NBA's restart, announced on its website earlier this month: "If you are looking for your COVID-19 PCR (swab) results please note that these may not be available in the patient portal for up to 5-7 days after collection."

Republicans in Trump's orbit seem to have finally convinced the president of the value of mask-wearing. Now if only they could convince him to take COVID testing seriously as well.

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