The Trump administration is facing heavy criticism over the United States' inability to adequately test sick patients for COVID-19. On Thursday, Dr. Anthony Fauci, the director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases and a coronavirus task force immunologist, did not mince his words either: "The system is not really geared to what we need right now," said Fauci, who has advised six presidents on domestic and global health issues. "That is a failing. Let's admit it."
The harsh words were delivered at a House hearing about coronavirus test kits, NBC reports, and came within hours of President Trump declaring that the tests were " going very smooth." On Thursday, Yahoo News reported that the CDC had only run 77 coronavirus tests between Sunday and Wednesday of this week.
Other countries, including South Korea, can test thousands of patients a day. "The idea of anybody [in America] getting it easily the way people in other countries are doing it, we're not set up for that," Fauci explained. "Do I think we should be? Yes. But we're not."
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