White House hopeful Joe Biden slammed President Donald Trump’s administration Thursday for its “colossal” failure to conduct sufficient coronavirus testing, as the leading Democrat unveiled his own plan for fighting the pandemic.
“The administration’s failure on testing is colossal, and it’s a failure of planning, leadership, and execution,” said the former vice president in a searing critique of Trump’s handling of a crisis that has now claimed 38 lives in the United States.
“Anyone who needs to be tested based on medical guidance should be tested at no charge,” he said, as he called for the establishment of “hundreds of mobile testing sites” around the nation.
American public health experts have criticized authorities for downplaying the epidemic and lagging behind in testing efforts.
Biden pointed to more comprehensive mismanagement of the crisis, and accused Trump of xenophobia by continuing to highlight the Chinese origin of coronavirus.
“Labeling COVID-19 a foreign virus does not displace accountability for the misjudgments that have been taken thus far by the Trump administration,” he said.
