White House adviser and presidential son-in-law Jared Kushner said critics asking about coronavirus testing should instead be looking at how the administration ramped up production “so quickly.”
In an interview with Fox and Friends on Wednesday, Kushner, who leads the White House Office of American Innovation and has invited private sector companies to advise on speeding the government’s coronavirus response efforts, explained that with available tests, the challenge is “about scaling supply” at a pace rarely before seen.
“Somebody asked me why it took so long; I actually said you should look at how did we do this so quickly,” Kushner said. “What’s really happened is truly, truly extraordinary.”
“We don’t want to let Dr. Fauci down, and we will make sure that we get enough tests into the market so that we can responsibly test people,” he said, referring to Director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases Anthony Fauci.
Surveys show that people are worried about contracting the virus and want safety measures in place before returning to work.
“Again, the goal here is to get people back to work,” Kushner said. “The eternal lockdown crowd can make jokes on late-night television, but the reality is that the data is on our side.”
The rate of new infection and death is on the decline, pushing some states to announce plans to lift stay-at-home orders with guidelines for reopening some businesses.
More than 1 million coronavirus cases have been confirmed in the United States, according to Johns Hopkins University.
