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President Trump said in an interview with the Wall Street Journal published Thursday that he personally thinks testing for the coronavirus is "overrated," arguing that it has led to an increase in confirmed cases in the U.S. that "makes us look bad."
Why it matters: The ability to test and isolate patients who have tested positive for the coronavirus is viewed by health experts as critical to being able to safely reopen the economy.
- While increased testing can lead to a higher number of confirmed cases, the rates of growth in Arizona, South Carolina, Louisiana, Oklahoma and Florida over the last two weeks are not solely attributable to more testing.
What he's saying: "I personally think testing is overrated, even though I created the greatest testing machine in history," Trump told WSJ.
- He also claimed, without evidence, that China may have intentionally allowed the virus to spread beyond its borders to damage the U.S. economy: "They’re saying, man, we’re in a mess. The United States is killing us. Don’t forget, my economy during the last year and a half was blowing them away. And the reason is the tariffs."
- "I don’t think they would do that," he added. "But you never know. But it has had an impact."
On the issue of face masks, which he has rarely worn in public despite the CDC's recommendation to do so, Trump claimed that people fidget with them and it makes them more likely to be infected by the virus.
- "They put their finger on the mask, and they take them off, and then they start touching their eyes and touching their nose and their mouth. And then they don’t know how they caught it?"
Go deeper: The states where coronavirus is spreading the fastest