White House Economic Adviser Kevin Hassett admitted “there is no downside” to increased coronavirus testing in the US.
“There is no downside. In fact we could use every single test that we can generate. And that’s something that we’re working overtime on ramping up testing. We tested about 300,000 people I think on Thursday,” he told CNN on Sunday. “And there are some new tests that are being approved. You’re exactly right, the objective is to get as much testing as possible.”
Where Trump stands on testing: During a meeting last Wednesday with Iowa Gov. Kim Reynolds, Trump said, “The media likes to say we have the most cases, but we do, by far, the most testing. If we did very little testing, we wouldn’t have the most cases. So, in a way, by doing all of this testing, we make ourselves look bad.”
The day before, talking to the press on the South Lawn, Trump said “We have the best testing anywhere in the world, not even close.”
Trump last month told CNN that the US is “…giving out millions of tests every day. We are doing it exponentially. We’re picking up and what we’ll be doing in the very near future will be going to certain areas of our country and do massive testing.”
