Trump says coronavirus testing ‘overrated,’ claims fewer cases if no testing

While health officials continue to stress the importance of testing as the key to controlling the coronavirus pandemic, President Donald Trump on Thursday suggested testing is “overrated.”

Speaking to employees at an Owens & Minor Inc. OMI, -3.00% medical-supply plant in Allentown, Pa., Trump said testing might be the problem.

“So we have the best testing in the world,” Trump said. “It could be the testing’s, frankly, overrated? Maybe it is overrated.”

The country has more than 1.4 million confirmed cases of COVID-19, but Trump said that’s only because the U.S. has carried out more tests.

“We have more cases than anybody in the world, but why? Because we do more testing,” Trump said. “When you test, you have a case. When you test you find something is wrong with people. If we didn’t do any testing, we would have very few cases. They don’t want to write that. It’s common sense. We test much more.”

Many on social media were quick to point out the obvious flaw in the president’s logic.

Remember, kids:

You don’t want a baby? Stay away from pregnancy tests! https://t.co/12t7g4sj0n

— Quinn Cummings (@quinncy) May 14, 2020

If we never check people's glucose and A1C, we'll put an end to diabetes! https://t.co/TVkddLxYAj

— Miranda Yaver (@mirandayaver) May 14, 2020

My 10-year old heard this, immediately rolled her eyes and said,

"That's so stupid! They still have it, they just wouldn't know it!"

She is wiser, more decent, and more compassionate than the president—and that's really sad.#ImWithHer https://t.co/i9zdX4c4Bg

— John Pavlovitz (@johnpavlovitz) May 14, 2020

“If we didn’t do any murder investigations, we would have very few murder cases.” pic.twitter.com/YDTnXk0UkA

— Stephen Colbert (@StephenAtHome) May 15, 2020

[Market Watch]