So that explains it
During Donald Trump’s latest disastrous press conference this week, I found myself musing about just how often he mentions the Abbott testing company by name. I’m not qualified to know whether Abbott’s coronavirus test is any better or worse than any other coronavirus test. But whenever Trump keeps hyping the same company or product over and over again, it always makes me wonder why. After all, Trump rarely promotes anything unless it’s a scam.
This evening the Washington Post is reporting that Abbott’s coronavirus test is almost stunningly inaccurate, missing nearly half of coronavirus infections. This doesn’t necessarily mean the testing kit is a scam; it could simply be ineffective at trying to test for a virus that’s highly mysterious in nature. If this report is correct, it explains a few things.
First, it helps explain why the Trump regime would be attracted to this particular test. The regime is pushing the notion that it’s somehow safe to reopen the country in the middle of a pandemic, so it would make sense that it would want to use a testing kit that produces as few positive results as possible. After all, this is for show, not for safety.
Second, it would explain how people like Mike Pence and Stephen Miller can test negative even after they came into direct contact with Katie Miller, who tested positive. It would also explain how the head of the Coast Guard tested positive and negative in the same day. Inaccurate testing results are doing the Trump White House no favors, because it merely increases the odds that everyone in the building will end up getting infected.
