| | | | | | ‘I don’t take responsibility at all’: Trump passes buck on coronavirus testing mess |
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| | | President Donald Trump on Friday declared a national emergency in response to the COVID-19 pandemic, but spent much of the announcement refusing to take responsibility for testing delays and praising his own inadequate response that helped let the coronavirus spread rapidly throughout much of the country.
Joined by representatives from companies like Walgreens, CVS and Quest Diagnostics, Trump unveiled a private-sector partnership to “vastly increase and accelerate our capacity to test for the coronavirus.”
He said half a million tests would be available by “early next week.”
“We want to make sure that those who need a test can get a test very safely, quickly and conveniently, but we don’t want people to take a test if we feel that they shouldn’t be doing it,” he said.
The national emergency declaration will also allocate up to $50 billion in disaster relief funding to states, effective immediately, Trump said.
The president and his administration have faced intense criticism for delays in testing for the new coronavirus. Many states and municipalities have reported a backlog in testing or an inability to test people who suspect they have contracted the virus.
Coronavirus tests are alarmingly hard to come by, which the top infectious disease expert at the National Institutes of Health called “a failing” on Thursday.
Asked about the delays Friday, Trump defiantly said: “I don’t take responsibility at all.” |
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| | | | | | | | Louisiana is the first state to postpone its 2020 primary over the coronavirus outbreak, Secretary of State Kyle Ardoin said Friday. |
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| | Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez turned down repeated requests from Bernie Sanders’ presidential campaign to appear at events promoting the Vermont senator’s candidacy in recent weeks. |
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| | Rep. Karen Bass, chairwoman of the Congressional Black Caucus, has endorsed Joe Biden for president, an influential nod of support that could bolster his 2020 Democratic campaign. |
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