White House testing czar disputes Trump on key reasons behind Covid case surge

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Wed, 2020-10-28 11:12 — mike kraft

White House testing czar disputes Trump on key reasons behind Covid case surge Admiral Brett Giroir, the White House's coronavirus testing czar, said Wednesday that coronavirus cases are surging because the virus is spreading and that the US can control the pandemic, disputing President Donald Trump that cases are surging because of increased testing. Chandelis Duster, CNN CNN

(CNN)Admiral Brett Giroir, the White House's coronavirus testing czar, said Wednesday that coronavirus cases are surging because the virus is spreading and that the US can control the pandemic, disputing President Donald Trump that cases are surging because of increased testing.

Trump again falsely claimed in a tweet Monday that the surge of cases in the US is because "we TEST, TEST, TEST."

Asked about Trump's tweet during an interview with NBC's "Today" show on Wednesday, Giroir said that cases and hospitalizations are actually increasing. He also called for the US to increase testing capacities and to do more testing.

"We do believe and the data show that the cases are going up. It's not just a function of testing. Yes, we're getting more cases identified, but the cases are actually going up, and we know that too because hospitalizations are going up," Giroir said, acknowledging that deaths are increasing as well. "Now the peak was in the 70-thousands in July. We're at about 40 to 43,000 now. So, we're much less than July, but those are going up, those are real, and we do know that deaths are increasing, unfortunately," he added.

Giroir also said the US can still control the coronavirus pandemic and has the tools to do so. Earlier this week, White House chief of staff Mark Meadows told CNN's Jake Tapper during "State of the Union" "we're not going to control the pandemic."

"We can control the virus. We know how to do that," he said. "Smart policies, very critical to wear a mask when you can't physically distance, avoid crowds, like those indoor crowded spaces, wash your hands ... We have the tools to combat this. We can control it, but this is a very important time to do it." ...

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