Trump says 'in many ways it's foolish' to test for Covid after US suffers record number of new cases

There were more than 83,000 new Covid-19 cases on Friday

Donald Trump has again made the claim that the only reason why coronavirus cases are up across the United States was because of the increased testing initiative. 

It was reported on Friday that the US recorded its largest single-day jump in cases since the start of the coronavirus pandemic – with 83,000 new Covid-19 cases. 

Mr Trump addressed the rise in cases during a campaign rally in Lumberton, North Carolina, on Saturday by blaming testing. 

“You know why we have cases? It’s because we test so much,” the president told his rally crowd. “In a lot of ways it’s good, and in a lot of ways it’s foolish.” 

The president went on to state that the Covid-19 mortality rate was down “because of the therapeutics”, which was correct, but that other countries didn’t have as many cases because they didn’t test as much, which was incorrect. 

“If we tested half, cases would be half," Mr Trump said. 

Testing the public for coronavirus not only informs health officials how widespread the novel virus is within a community, but it also helps them trace who else might have it and stop it from further spreading. 

Turning a blind eye and testing half as much, as the president suggested, would cut down the number of reported cases but would not stop the virus from spreading to others. Instead, decreasing testing would likely further increase the number of infections. 

During the rally Mr Trump added: "That's all I hear about now. Turn on television, ‘Covid, Covid, Covid, Covid, Covid, Covid’.

"A plane goes down, 500 people dead, they don't talk about it. 'Covid Covid Covid Covid.' By the way, on November 4th, you won't hear about it anymore. 'Covid! Covid! Please don't go and vote, Covid!'"

The president focused on cases as the leading data point causing concern across the country. But hospitalisations are also on the rise. 

In Wisconsin, 90 per cent of hospital ICU beds are full, Governor Tony Evers said on Friday. The state opened a makeshift field hospital and accepted its first patient on Wednesday to manage the surge.

In the month of October, 37 states have reported an increase to their hospitalisation rate – including the rate doubling in states like Connecticut, Montana, New Mexico and Wyoming.

North Carolina was one of the states reporting an increase in both cases and hospitalisations. Additionally, the state reported its highest number of new cases in a single day this week. 

Although the coronavirus mortality rate has been down in recent months, it was currently on the incline following the increase in cases and hospitalisations. 

On Wednesday, the US posted more than 1,100 new deaths, the highest death toll in a single day in more than a month.

The full impact of the current rise in coronavirus cases on the mortality rate won’t be known for another three to four weeks, as the death toll remains a lagging indicator behind the case count and hospitalisation count.