The Many Things Trump’s Friday COVID-19 Presser Got Wrong

Surrounded by members of the White House Coronavirus Task Force, US President Donald Trump speaks at a press conference on COVID-19, known as the coronavirus, in the Rose Garden of the White House in Washington, DC, ... Surrounded by members of the White House Coronavirus Task Force, US President Donald Trump speaks at a press conference on COVID-19, known as the coronavirus, in the Rose Garden of the White House in Washington, DC, March 13, 2020. - Trump is declaring coronavirus a national emergency. (Photo by SAUL LOEB / AFP) (Photo by SAUL LOEB/AFP via Getty Images) MORE LESS
Start your day with TPM.
Sign up for the Morning Memo newsletter

Just how bad was it?

If you’re measuring as compared to reality, President Trump’s Friday presser missed the mark by a very, very wide margin.

Let’s break it down into two key areas.

President Trump and his gathered officials and CEOs made claims about two broad topics: the supposedly impending availability of mass coronavirus testing, and a website which would help effectuate that.

The first area saw President Trump insist that the Food and Drug Administration had granted expedited approval to Swiss drugmaker Roche for a test, making “up to half a million additional tests” available by early this week, according to Trump.

The tests offer quick results, with the company advertising a 3.5 hour turnaround time.

Well, it is now early this week. And according to a CNBC appearance by Roche CEO Severin Schwan this morning, around 400 tests will be available this week.

Okay, okay.

But a large part of the press conference dealt also with what appeared to be a national plan to install drive-through testing sites around the country, with a website to boot! The site, Trump explained, would be available on Sunday (yesterday), and would be capable of showing Americans where their nearing drive-through testing site would be.

It would done via a public-private partnership with Google, Trump explained, quickly delivering much-needed information to Americans who wish to get tested.

That was also a gross mischaracterization.

Google itself said in a statement on Monday, issued by the CEO of its parent company Alphabet, that the site would be focused on information and education.

The site is addressed to the entire U.S., but won’t offer testing locations: rather, it will display “links to authoritative information from the World Health Organization (WHO) and the Centers for Disease Control (CDC), and helpful tips and tools from Google for individuals, teachers and businesses.”

Useful! But not what was promised.

A website similar to the one Trump described, and created by Google subsidiary Verily, does exist, in a fashion.

But it only works for Santa Clara and San Mateo counties in California, without offering information about anywhere else in the country.

And, even then, users who click through the site to the stage that supposedly shows where to get tested land on a page saying that it’s impossible to schedule any testing.

Latest Muckraker

Notable Replies

  1. Much more concise article:

    The Things Trump’s Friday COVID-19 Presser Got Right

  2. All evidence for the eventual Trump Pandemic tribunals under President Biden.

  3. Everything Trump said was for his benefit.

  4. Yup. He still wants us to think he has this mess under control. There was a time for that and he let it pass while preoccupied with COVID’s ramifications on his political future. . Not to be too harsh but COVID is going to run its course as it sees fit…the way it wants and when and where it wants. It will kill those it wants and render sick those it feels like sickening. That’s what happens when you manage an epidemic as a political problem. That’s what happens when you ignore a threat to 320 million people and just look out for number one. That’s where we are and there aint shit we can do about it.

Continue the discussion at forums.talkingpointsmemo.com

31 more replies

Participants

Avatar for discobot Avatar for dr_coyote Avatar for richardinjax Avatar for pokeyoakey Avatar for eggrollian Avatar for 1gg Avatar for globalguy Avatar for cervantes Avatar for oscarhomolka Avatar for hagarwood Avatar for hquain Avatar for karlsgems Avatar for dangoodbar Avatar for darrtown Avatar for caltg Avatar for michaelryerson Avatar for brian512 Avatar for dannydorko Avatar for maximus Avatar for bobcanuel Avatar for dominic Avatar for pablointhegazebo Avatar for rascal_crone Avatar for emiliano4

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