Trump Claims Mass Testing Isn’t Needed As He Itches To Reopen The Economy ‘Very Soon’

April 9, 2020
|
April 9, 2020

Within the roughly 20 minutes that he spent at the podium of Thursday’s White House coronavirus task force briefing, President Trump reiterated that he would like to reopen the economy “very soon.”

After touting that 2 million “highly sophisticated and highly accurate” COVID-19 tests have been conducted in the country, Trump downplayed the need for mass testing for all Americans when the country goes back to work.

“We want to have it and we’re going to see if we have it. Do you need it? No. Is it a nice thing to do? Yes,” Trump said. “We’re talking about 325 million people and that’s not gonna happen, as you can imagine, and it would never happen with anyone else, either.”

Trump went on to say that although “other countries do it,” they do so in “a limited form” and that the U.S. will “probably be the leader of the pack.”

In response to the more than 16 million people who have filed for unemployment so far during the pandemic, Trump said that he believes the economy will “do very well” because he’s “had good, proper feelings about a lot things over the years.”

Scroll down for our full coverage of the briefing below:

More Less

Within the roughly 20 minutes that he spent at the podium of Thursday’s White House coronavirus task force briefing, President Trump reiterated that he would like to reopen the economy “very soon.”

After touting that 2 million “highly sophisticated and highly accurate” COVID-19 tests have been conducted in the country, Trump downplayed the need for mass testing for all Americans when the country goes back to work.

“We want to have it and we’re going to see if we have it. Do you need it? No. Is it a nice thing to do? Yes,” Trump said. “We’re talking about 325 million people and that’s not gonna happen, as you can imagine, and it would never happen with anyone else, either.”

Trump went on to say that although “other countries do it,” they do so in “a limited form” and that the U.S. will “probably be the leader of the pack.”

In response to the more than 16 million people who have filed for unemployment so far during the pandemic, Trump said that he believes the economy will “do very well” because he’s “had good, proper feelings about a lot things over the years.”

Scroll down for our full coverage of the briefing below:

Comments
Masthead Masthead
Founder & Editor-in-Chief:
Executive Editor:
Managing Editor:
Associate Editor:
Editor at Large:
General Counsel:
Publisher:
Head of Product:
Director of Technology:
Associate Publisher:
Front End Developer:
Senior Designer: