President Donald Trump and the White House have taken heat for how they’ve responded to the coronovirus outbreak.
But they’re suggesting former President Barack Obama’ administration deserves the scrutiny.
It’s no secret that world leaders all across the country are searching for answers as fast as they can to contain it from becoming a pandemic.
And Trump is saying that restrictions from Obama’s administration had been contributing to the difficulty hospitals have had in locating the virus in patients.
An increasing amount of Americans are facing a shortage of coronavirus testing, according to APNews, and congresspeople are receiving complaints that citizens have nowhere to go.
It’s one of the many problems the U.S. is facing amid what some health experts say could turn into a pandemic.
Trump, in addressing airline executives at the White House, touched on a lesser-known rule approved by the Obama-led White House that restricted the freedom of laboratories.
“The Obama administration made a decision on testing that turned out to be very detrimental to what we’re doing,” he said. “and we undid that decision a few days ago so that testing can take place in a much more accurate and rapid fashion.”
“That was a decision we disagreed with,” Trump continued, “I don’t think we would have made it, but for some reason it was made. But we’ve undone that decision.”
Vice President Mike Pence clarified Trump’s remarks, saying “the last administration asserted FDA jurisdiction over testing, and the development of tests like this. The president changed that on Saturday.
“The states now have the ability to actually conduct the coronavirus tests in state labs, university laboratories,” he added.
In other words, state run facilities no longer have to wait to be approved by the FDA to run tests, a move that could prove extremely useful and life saving, given how fast the virus is spreading.
CDC (Center for Disease Control and Prevention) director Dr. Robert Redfield noted the impact of the move: “It’s really very important,” he said at the White House event with Trump. “It’s what’s changed the availability of testing overnight.”
According to New York Times reporting, former Obama officials are claiming that they are unaware of the rule change that Trump and Pence referred to.
Obama, while he did not respond directly, posted a message of his own to Twitter, encouraging Americans to follow the CDC’s directions.
The Horn editorial team