Earlier in the week, it was all about “total authority.” Then Donald Trump abruptly changed his tune. The responsibility for opening America would come from the governors. Wait, what was that about? Sure, Trump changes his mind on a whim, but to cede the stage to the governors? Now, the White House announced it would only issue guidance. And no administration official is in charge of testing for coronavirus. What’s going on? The Washington Post captured it perfectly.
“Trump’s the-buck-stops-with-the-states posture is largely designed to shield himself from blame should there be new outbreaks after states reopen or for other problems, according to several current and former senior administration officials involved in the response who spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss internal deliberations.“
So instead of a national strategy to coordinate testing, for instance, the states are left to go it alone. Or to form consortiums of states. AS the Post writes, “Senior administration officials said that although the federal government will try to facilitate access to tests, states and localities will be responsible for developing and administering their own testing programs.”
So far, just 3.3 million people have been tested for coronavirus. Business leaders and the science community agree it’s paramount that more, many more, be tested before the U.S. can safely reopen for business.
New York Governor Andrew Cuomo said, “This has to be figured out. I understand that this is a problematic area and the federal government’s not eager to get involved in testing. I get that, but the plain reality here is we have to do it in partnership with the federal government.”
But why is it problematic? Perhaps because it’s politically problematic. Since the beginning of the pandemic, Trump has less than gung-ho about testing, no doubt fearing an enormous number of positive results would send dark clouds over any plan to reopen quickly.
Senator Amy Klobuchar, whose husband tested positive for the disease, told the Post:
“You don’t have to be an infectious disease doctor to figure out that the testing is going to be the gateway to making people feel safe and comfortable going out and reopening the economy. It is really hard for people to know if they can go back to work or customers can go into stores unless we have that testing.”
This post contains opinion.
