“We haven’t beaten this yet,” Scott told CNN’s Jake Tapper on “State of the Union,” urging “all of us” to wear a mask and practice social distancing.
Trump in Pennsylvania on Saturday pushed baseless claims to try and convince voters the coronavirus pandemic is improving, despite the number of new cases, hospitalizations and the test positivity rate all increasing.
On CNN Sunday, Scott said the federal government has made progress on therapeutics and potential vaccines, but needs to improve testing for Americans.
“Hopefully, we make a lot of progress on the vaccine. But we still have a lot of work to do, especially work to do on testing. We got to get more testing out there for the private sector,” Scott told Tapper.
He added later, “We have made progress on testing, but we are still not where we need to be yet. I want people to really think about how do we get more businesses these rapid tests so we can get these businesses open faster?”
Asked by Tapper if he’s bothered by the President’s large outdoor rallies that potentially put his constituents at risk, Scott replied, “Everybody’s got to take this seriously.”
“You should wear your mask, you should social distance. But it’s your responsibility to make these decisions for yourself. And there’s a way to do these things safely and my expectation that every American does that,” the Florida Republican said.
Last week, on the same program, White House chief of staff Mark Meadows told CNN that the US is “not going to control” the coronavirus pandemic, but going to control the fact that we get vaccines, therapeutics and other mitigation areas.”
