The government’s top infectious disease expert told a House hearing Tuesday that he and other health officials have not been told to slow coronavirus testing, just hours after President Donald Trump again suggested he had asked for fewer tests.
Anthony Fauci, director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, told the House Energy and Commerce Committee that the administration continues to focus on scaling up testing capacity and that, to his knowledge, none of the White House coronavirus task force members had been told to do otherwise.
“It’s the opposite,” Fauci said in response to a question referencing Trump’s remarks. “We’re going to be doing more testing, not less.”
Trump earlier Tuesday said he was serious when he revealed at a campaign rally Saturday that he had directed his administration to slow testing that was inflating the U.S. caseload. White House officials and Vice President Mike Pence have since walked back the remarks, saying they were made in jest.
FDA Commissioner Steven Hahn, CDC Director Robert Redfield and Assistant Secretary of Health Brett Giroir also told the House panel they had not been asked by the president to cut back tests.
Trump’s comments come as Covid-19 cases continue to climb in the U.S., with more than 2.3 million infected and at least 120,000 dead.
States that relaxed social distancing guidelines such as Arizona, Texas and Florida are seeing dramatic spikes in cases.
Fauci called the new infections in some areas “disturbing.” Redfield said the increase is likely the result more testing as well as a jump in community transmission.
Officials said the administration continues to scale up diagnostic testing capacity. The U.S. currently can run roughly 12 million tests a month. Giroir, who is in charge of the federal government’s testing strategy, told lawmakers he expects that to grow to 40 to 50 million tests per month by the fall.
