Fauci: ‘None of Us Have Ever Been Told to Slow Down on Testing’

Energy and Commerce Committee
Hannah Knudsen

During Tuesday’s congressional hearing on coronavirus oversight, Dr. Anthony Fauci denied claims that they had been asked to scale back testing, clarifying that they will actually be “doing more.”

“I know for sure that to my knowledge none of us have ever been told to slow down on testing,” said Fauci, director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, when asked about President Trump’s recent comments.

“That just is a fact. In fact, we will be doing more testing,” he continued.

Fauci, a member of the coronavirus task force, also promised “much more surveillance if you want to get your arms around and understand exactly what’s going on in community spread.”

“So it’s the opposite. We’re going to be doing more testing, not less,” he added:

Trump set off a media firestorm after making remarks on the nation’s rising coronavirus cases, referring to testing as a “double-edged sword” during Saturday’s rally in Tulsa, Oklahoma.

He said:

We’ve tested now 25 million people. It’s probably 20 million people more than anybody else. Germany’s done a lot. South Korea’s done a lot. They call me, they say the job you’re doing. Here’s the bad part, when you test the, when you do testing to that extent, you’re going to find more people, you’re going to find more cases.

“So I said to my people, slow the testing down please! They test and they test,” he continued.

“We had tests, the people don’t know what’s going on. We got tests. We got another one over here. The young man’s 10 years old. He’s got the sniffles. He’ll recover in about 15 minutes. That’s a case. Add him too, that’s a case,” he added.

Trump’s critics came out in full force, outraged over his purported demand to slow down testing in the U.S.

White House Press Secretary Kayleigh McEnany said on Monday that the remark was made in jest, but on Tuesday, Trump stuck to his remarks, explaining that the rising number of positive cases in U.S. corresponds with increased testing.

“I don’t kid, let me just tell you, let me just make it clear,” Trump said on Tuesday when asked if he was joking on Saturday:

“We have got the greatest testing program anywhere in the world, we test better than anyone in the world,” the president stated.

“We test, we’re going to have more cases, by having more cases it sounds bad but actually what it is, we’re finding more people,” he continued.

“Here’s what I say, testing is a double-edged sword, in one way it tells you you have cases, in another way you find out where the cases are and you do a good job,” Trump added:

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