President Donald Trump on Tuesday said he has been told that there is no need for him to undergo a test for the novel Coronavirus that has now killed 26 Americans.
Two members of Congress Trump has interacted with in recent days, Rep. Doug Collins, R-Ga., and Rep. Matt Gaetz, R-Fla., announced that they would “self-quarantine” after being informed that an individual with whom they’d interacted at last week’s Conservative Political Action Conference had tested positive for the virus.
But Trump, who spoke to reporters after attending Senate Republicans’ weekly caucus lunch, said White House Medical Unit chief Dr. Sean Conley had informed him that a test was not necessary at this time.
“I spoke to the White House doctor — terrific guy, talented guy — he said he sees no reason to do it. There’s no symptoms, no anything,” Trump said.
Despite the growing number of cases in states across the country, Trump still insisted on taking credit for keeping the reported number of cases low, despite the fact that part of the reason the number remains relatively low compared to other countries is the Trump administration’s failure to develop and deploy an accurate test for the virus.
“As you know, it’s about 600 cases, it’s about 26 deaths, within our country. And had we not acted quickly, that number would have been substantially more,” he said, adding that his meeting with Senate Republicans, which was ostensibly to discuss proposals to stimulate the economy in the event of a Coronavirus-induced downtown, was “great.”
“There’s a great feeling about doing a lot of things,” Trump said, though he said “we’re going to see” about some of the suggestions Democrats have made for dealing with the problem in recent days, including using federal funds to allow for paid leave for hourly workers affected by the virus.