The Trump administration will stop funding drive-thru coronavirus testing sites across the country by the end of June.
The move will affect testing sites in Texas, Illinois, New Jersey, Colorado, and Pennsylvania, but Adm. Brett Giroir, the Trump administration’s testing czar, told reporters on a Wednesday phone call that the federal government is not “withdrawing” support for the sites but rather “providing federal support in a different way.”
“We are going to increase testing, both in the number and the quality, and in the targeting on social media,” Giroir said, according to CNBC.
Dozens of community-based sites were opened in March as the coronavirus outbreak spread across the country. Giroir said the 13 remaining sites will stay open under state and local control. Seven of the sites are in Texas, where there is a spike in COVID-19 cases.
The administration first made the announcement about the 13 sites in April to encourage community testing and public-private partnerships but delayed the decision until now after facing pushback from members of Congress and governors.
“We are transitioning 13 sites from the original now antiquated program to the more efficient and effective testing sites,” Giroir said in an email statement.
Health and Human Services said that state governors can still use the CARES Act to maintain testing operations at current federally backed testing areas.
“Cases are going up in the U.S. because we are testing far more than any other country, and ever expanding. With smaller testing we would show fewer cases!” President Trump tweeted about the virus Tuesday.
Cases are going up in the U.S. because we are testing far more than any other country, and ever expanding. With smaller testing we would show fewer cases!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) June 23, 2020
During a Saturday campaign rally in Tulsa, Oklahoma, Trump said he told members of his administration to decrease the amount of testing for the novel coronavirus in the United States, claiming it would give a false representation of COVID-19 spikes and further worsen the economy.
“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,'” Trump said.
White House trade adviser Peter Navarro dismissed Trump’s remarks as “tongue-in-cheek,” but the president doubled down on his comments, telling reporters, “I don’t kid.”
There are more than 9.2 million confirmed cases of the coronavirus globally, with more than 478,000 deaths and 4.6 million reported recoveries.
“Testing is a double-edge sword,” Trump said. “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.”
In the U.S, more than 2.3 million people have tested positive for the coronavirus, with the nation’s death toll totaling more than 121,000. More than 28 million people in the U.S. have been tested for COVID-19, according to the latest reading of the Johns Hopkins University tracker.
