The Bullshit: "America’s testing capability and capacity is fully sufficient to begin opening up the country, totally," announced Trump on April 18th. On April 22nd he added, "We are doing more testing I think than probably any of the governors even want."
The Reality: "We are not in a situation where we can say we are exactly where we want to be with regard to testing," said Dr. Anthony Fauci to Time magazine, April 23rd.
The Bullshit: "The three-phase White House plan, Opening Up America Again [target date: May 1] … says states should have a 'downward trajectory of positive tests' … over two weeks, while conducting robust contact tracing and 'sentinel surveillance' testing of asymptomatic people in vulnerable populations."
The Reality: "Many states are still struggling [four days before the reopening target date] to conduct much more urgent testing of patients with symptoms" (my emphases), reported the Times yesterday.
Reality2: We must "significantly ramp up" not just the number of tests, but the "capacity to actually perform them" — Fauci to Time, on the emptiness of Trump's repeated boasts about the numerous tests out there.
Reality3: This administration is trying to kill you.
Reality will hit hard in short order if the country is opened up too soon.
Posted by: Anne J | April 27, 2020 at 10:31 AM