'This is unfortunately not a joke': Harvard doctor reacts to Trump's comments on COVID-19 testing

[Mike 03]

Boston.com
Full Headline: ‘This is unfortunately not a joke’: Harvard doctor reacts to Trump’s comments on COVID-19 testing at Tulsa rally
By Dialynn Dwyer
June 22, 2020 | 11:09 AM

Dr. Ashish Jha, director of the Harvard Global Health Institute, told CNN’s John King on Sunday that he doesn’t believe Trump was joking when he made the comments.

“It’s actually very consistent with the policy we’ve been seeing coming out of the White House,” he said. “An effort to not put too much time and effort into ramping up testing. And this is incredibly frustrating for the millions of Americans who have gotten sick and have not been able to get tests. It’s got to be incredibly frustrating for people who have lost family members in nursing homes.”

Since the start of the pandemic, public health experts have stressed that robust testing is a critical cornerstone for controlling the virus outbreak, since it makes clear who has the virus and who doesn’t, and have expressed concerns that state and local governments were below target goals for testing.

“This is unfortunately not a joke,” Jha added of Trump’s comments on testing. “It’s led to more than 100,000 Americans having died largely because we have not built up the testing infrastructure that our country needs.”

The Harvard doctor also said he disagreed with the president’s assertion at the Tulsa rally that the coronavirus is “fading away” in the U.S.

Read more: https://www.boston.com/news/coronavirus/2020/06/22/ashish-jha-trump-rally-slow-down-testing/amp

[Kitchari]

1. As has often been said: The cruelty is the point

and the more people die, the more satisfied the Orange one and his Russian handlers

[MagickMuffin]

2. It Was NOT a Joke

he has constantly talked about the numbers and testing makes him look bad. It's ALL by design.




And even if it were a Joke, why would anyone in their right mind joke about something this serious?