We need mass testing in order to safely reopen the economy and contain the spread of the coronavirus. Yet testing has dramatically slowed. Instead of ramping up testing, Trump is downplaying the need for it and trying to pass blame for his own failures.

Instead of ramping up testing to meet demand, testing has dramatically slowed down and is severely behind where we need it to be to reopen the economy.

Politico: “Coronavirus testing hits dramatic slowdown in U.S.”

Washington Post: “Coronavirus testing is stalling. That’s not a good sign for re-opening the U.S. economy.”

Los Angeles Times: “Reopening the economy requires testing, and the U.S. still isn’t close”

Dr. Fauci confirmed that we’re not where we need to be yet on testing in order to begin reopening the economy.

Associated Press: “Dr. Anthony Fauci, the government’s top infectious disease expert, said Tuesday the U.S. does not yet have the critical testing and tracing procedures needed to begin reopening the nation’s economy, adding a dose of caution to increasingly optimistic projections from the White House.”

FAUCI: “We have to have something in place that is efficient and that we can rely on, and we’re not there yet.”

Trump tried to blame governors for issues ramping up testing despite his delay in producing adequate tests and failure to distribute testing supplies.

CNN’s Daniel Dale: “Trump: ‘The governors are supposed to do testing. It’s up to the governors.’ ‘It’s now not up – and it hasn’t been up – to the federal government.’”

CNN’s Jim Acosta: “Yesterday Trump said he had ‘total authority’ over the states’  reopening plans. Today he says they are in charge of their own testing: ‘We have always wanted the states to do the testing.’”

Politico: “A shortage of test kit materials, including reagents, has significantly hampered the Trump administration’s efforts to ramp up testing across the country – one of several U.S. government failures around testing in the early weeks of the pandemic that allowed the virus to proliferate unchecked.”

Politico: “The Centers for Disease Control did distribute tests, as the White House notes. But it omitted that the tests didn’t work – and even when they did get improved, testing capacity lagged way behind the need. It was during these crucial weeks, many public health experts say, that an initial scattering of infections snowballed into deadly hot spots.”

Instead of addressing testing shortages, Trump wants to move forward with reopening the economy, even if it could result in lost lives.

TRUMP: “We made the right moves, now it’s time to get our country reopened again.”

Washington Post: “Rather, the debate this week has been over how to implement the return, what data could be used to justify the decision, and how to build public support for it to provide the president maximum political cover, according to one senior administration official involved in the discussions and a second person who has been briefed on them. Trump’s advisers are trying to shield the president from political accountability should his move to reopen the economy prove premature and result in lost lives, and so they are trying to mobilize business executives, economists and other prominent figures to buy into the eventual White House plan, so that if it does not work, the blame can be shared broadly, according to two former administration officials familiar with the efforts.”