When H1N1 appeared in 2009, the first case was in the United States, so there was no time to prepare. Despite that handicap, the CDC launched a vaccine program within six days, published the complete genetic sequence of the virus within nine days of that first case, and had tests available at 13 days. One million tests were mailed to states within 21 days.
When China first released information on COVID-19 on Dec. 31, it was two weeks before the first case appeared in the United States. But that lead time—along with much of the next two weeks—was completely wasted. Though test kits in other countries were available in mid-January, it wasn’t until Feb. 6 that the CDC shipped 90 tests to state labs. Three days later, those tests were withdrawn after problems were found. On March 10, Mike Pence said there were “millions of tests on the way.” There weren’t. It would be April before the U.S. completed a million tests, and by then 150,000 of those tests would be positive as the epidemic in the country raged out of control.
The nations that have successfully managed COVID-19 have taken different approaches, but the one thing they’ve had in common was a unified, coordinated national testing strategy. And now Donald Trump has released his latest plan … and it is still none of those things.
In mid-March, Trump dragged a series of big box store CEOs onto the podium to insist that they were going to create a nationwide network of drive-thru testing sites, all managed through a massive website being built by 7,000 engineers at Google. Exactly a month later, Trump was back to declare that his own idea was ridiculous. “Washington shouldn’t be doing that,” said Trump. “We can’t be thinking about a Walmart parking lot that’s 2,000 miles away where we’re doing testing...”
In Trump’s mind, the federal government’s responsibility extends from Trump to … however far it takes to contain his latest chip shot. No further. Trump’s testing policy from the beginning has been to claim credit for everything the states do and blame the states for every one of his own failures. So it shouldn’t be surprising that the policy that was released on Sunday in the middle of a holiday weekend is more of the same.
As The New York Times reports, Trump’s all-new, all-improved national testing plan is to not have a national testing plan. Instead, it “holds individual states responsible for planning and carrying out all coronavirus testing.” Which definitely is planning of a sort—it’s planning for failure.
The new plan does suggest that the federal government may supply some testing materials, but it doubles down on Trump’s April statement that states should consider the federal government “the supplier of last resort.”
Six months into the coronavirus crisis, Trump’s team has labored long and hard to say that they’re not going to labor at all. They’re not going to provide tests. They’re not going to provide national coordination of either testing or case management. They’re not going to provide recommended policies or standards. Instead, they’re telling states to do what states have already been forced to do: develop their own testing plans, provide their own tests, and manage the data themselves.
Trump will allow the strategic national stockpile to hand out some swabs and testing supplies, which one expert cited by the Times referred to as a “positive step.” It might also be called far too little, way too late. Or simply despicable.
What the new federal plan-not-to-plan notably does not do is help to smooth out the steps of the supply chain necessary for states to get all the equipment, supplies, and protective gear needed for a robust testing plan. Trump isn’t just refusing to pick up any of the work, he’s refusing to take even the simplest steps to make the task easier for the states that are left holding the bag. He continues to avoid not just accepting any blame, but admitting any responsibility.
But, as he tweeted on Tuesday morning, there is one place Trump is happy to step in: He’ll take the credit. He’ll take all the credit.