A White House spokeswoman called Senate Minority Leader Charles Schumer (D-N.Y.) an “ill-informed keyboard warrior” in response to a tweet the lawmaker posted criticizing the president’s national testing strategy.
“Thanks to @realDonaldTrump testing capacity in many states now exceeds need. Meanwhile, @SenSchumer continues to be an ill-informed keyboard warrior,” tweeted Alyssa Farah, a former spokeswoman for Vice President Pence and member of the president’s press staff.
Schumer said on Twitter Wednesday that Trump “doesn’t have an adequate testing strategy” even after months into the pandemic.
Farah attached a screenshot of a Washington Post headline to her tweet that said the country has more tests than there are people able to take them.
The Post reports that state health departments now have more tests than there are people showing up to take them. However, physicians interviewed by the newspaper say that a lack of patients is attributable partially to widespread messaging about testing scarcity, making people unsure if they qualify for a test.
Early on in the pandemic, many state health departments advised only symptomatic patients request a test, meaning that those who exhibit coughing, fever, fatigue and other symptoms associated with the disease qualify for testing.
The number of people in the U.S. who have been tested for the virus is still below the goals of public health officials, doctors told the Post.
Public health officials, including those on the White House coronavirus task force, have said that widespread testing is key to achieving herd immunity and safely reopening the country.