Pence Says To Expect ‘More Cases’ Of Coronavirus With More Testing

US Vice President Mike Pence (C) speaks along with members of the coronavirus take force during a press briefing at the White House in Washington, DC on March 2, 2020. (Photo by MANDEL NGAN / AFP) (Photo by MANDEL N... US Vice President Mike Pence (C) speaks along with members of the coronavirus take force during a press briefing at the White House in Washington, DC on March 2, 2020. (Photo by MANDEL NGAN / AFP) (Photo by MANDEL NGAN/AFP via Getty Images) MORE LESS
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In a subtle turn of phrase Monday, Vice President Mike Pence seemed to acknowledge a fact that public health experts have been arguing for weeks as the Trump administration has minimized the risk of coronavirus in the United States.

“As we find more cases, it will mean our health officials are doing their job in large part,” Pence said at a White House press conference at which members of the White House coronavirus task force spoke.

The line follows intense pressure from the public health community about testing for coronavirus in the United States: Rather than use the World Health Organization’s coronavirus test, the Trump administration opted to make its own, but that was delayed by faulty results. Tests were short in supply, leading to far fewer people being tested for coronavirus than could have been.

Meanwhile, the President and others repeatedly broadcast — perhaps in an attempt to calm plunging stock markets — that the number of Americans with coronavirus remained low. “We’re going very substantially down, not up,” Trump said last week, clashing with experts.

It’s what Jeremy Konyndyk, of the Center for Global Development, called the “self-licking ice cream cone” — the idea that “we’re not seeing community spread yet so we don’t need to aggressively test for it.”

But now, with multiple American deaths and the CDC finally sending thousands of tests across the country (and allowing for localities to do their own testing), Pence acknowledged the reality that more Americans have coronavirus than the government initially suggested.

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Notable Replies

  1. And, in.] an added note, Mike is setting up Revival tents across the country for those who want to pray away the plague.

  2. Hope I’m not speaking too soon, but it sure has been quiet on the trump* being constantly obnoxious on TV front the last couple of days.

  3. “It’s what Jeremy Konyndyk, of the Center for Global Development, called the ‘self-licking ice cream cone’…”

    I’ll bet when Pence heard that phrase, he wet his crotchless leather panties with excitement.

  4. That must mean…TESTING LEADS TO INFECTION!!!

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