Donald Trump has offered his opinion that the solution to getting rid of coronavirus is to simply stop testing for it. In a recent roundtable, the President of the United States asserted that: “If we stop testing right now, we’d have very few [coronavirus] cases, if any.”
This is a nice sentiment and it would be true, except that everyone knows that when you say: “you can’t see me if I can’t see you”, the other person can definitely still see you.
Donald Trump says that if the US stops coronavirus testing there will be very few cases, which is true, except that it isn’t.
The assertion was made during a roundtable on Fighting for America’s Seniors, as reported by Business Insider. Following this, the President took to Twitter to back up his claims, arguing that because the testing in America is so “great” it’s actually making them look bad.
Our testing is so much bigger and more advanced than any other country (we have done a great job on this!) that it shows more cases. Without testing, or weak testing, we would be showing almost no cases. Testing is a double edged sword – Makes us look bad, but good to have!!!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) June 15, 2020
Needless to say, abandoning testing wouldn’t result in fewer cases, it would just mean that no one knows about them.
The responses to Trump’s claim have been, predictably, hilarious:
I smashed the gas meter on my car’s dashboard so I’d never run out of gas again. https://t.co/UlPO6e2cRa
— The Hoarse Whisperer (@HoarseWisperer) June 15, 2020
Well, yes, in the same way that if you stopped charging people with murder you’d have no murder convictions. https://t.co/YjxfENJVoU
— Philip Bump (@pbump) June 15, 2020
If you don’t have a fire alarm, can’t have a fire, right? https://t.co/QjtDV4t3pZ
— Brian Klaas (@brianklaas) June 15, 2020
If I wear a hat I won’t be bald anymore. https://t.co/uU0xRH4R0Z
— Tom Colicchio (@tomcolicchio) June 15, 2020
“If we got rid of X-rays we’d have very few cavities, if any.” https://t.co/7G9rfWrTl4
— Michael Green (@andmichaelgreen) June 15, 2020
Currently, multiple states across the US are seeing rising infection rates as they begin relaxing social distancing restrictions, including Florida, Oklahoma, Arizona, Arkansas, and South Carolina which are seeing more than 100% increase. There have been more than 2 million confirmed coronavirus cases across the US as a whole and more than 116,000 deaths – the highest of any country in the world.
In other news, Twitter recently turned Donald Trump’s birthday into Obama Appreciation Day.
