As lawmakers continue to advocate for more testing, Dr. Anthony Fauci is hopeful the United States will be able to increase testing capacity by the beginning of this summer.
CNN’s Jake Tapper asked Fauci when he believes any American who needs a test will be able to get one.
“Everyone who needs a test, according to the way we’re approaching the identification, isolation, contact tracing, keeping the country safe and healthy, that hopefully, we should see that as we get towards the end of May, the beginning of June,” Fauci said.
Watch his comments below:
"Everyone who needs a test, according to the way we're approaching the identification, isolation, contact tracing, keeping the country safe and healthy, that hopefully we should see that as we get towards the end of May, the beginning of June," Dr. Anthony Fauci says. pic.twitter.com/R6YJqFTJup
— The Lead CNN (@TheLeadCNN) April 28, 2020
According to Fauci, the timeline provided is what is being told to him by those who are responsible for testing. He vowed to go to them if it does not happen and hold them accountable.
Congress and the White House recently reached an agreement on a nearly $500 billion coronavirus relief package, which includes $25 billion for a national testing plan as IJR previously reported.
Some lawmakers have been critical of President Donald Trump’s rollout of coronavirus testing, including Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) and House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif).
Schumer called the Trump administration an “abject failure” after claiming Trump failed to successfully implement the first four coronavirus relief packages, as IJR previously reported.
He reiterated Trump’s new coronavirus testing plan includes “almost no details” on how it is going to work.
Pelosi recently said Trump is a “total failure” when it comes to testing. She suggested he has been using other policy issues to distract from his plan to mitigate the effects of the coronavirus pandemic.
Trump, however, praised the nation’s testing efforts in a tweet after confirmed coronavirus cases in the U.S. reached over 1,000,000.
“The only reason the U.S. has reported one million cases of CoronaVirus is that our Testing is sooo much better than any other country in the World,” Trump wrote. “Other countries are way behind us in Testing, and therefore show far fewer cases!”
The only reason the U.S. has reported one million cases of CoronaVirus is that our Testing is sooo much better than any other country in the World. Other countries are way behind us in Testing, and therefore show far fewer cases!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) April 29, 2020
As of Wednesday morning, the United States has more than 58,000 deaths due to the coronavirus.
