Ryan: U.S. ‘Weeks Behind’ on Coronavirus Because Trump Thought It Was a Hoax

Sunday on MSNBC’s “Kasie DC,” Rep. Tim Ryan (D-OH) slammed President Donald Trump and his administration for putting the United States “weeks and weeks behind” on combating the coronavirus threat.

According to Ryan, the United States was so far behind in testing because Trump thought the coronavirus was a “hoax” and was in “denial” about the legitimacy of the uproar.

“I think the University of Cincinnati is starting to produce their own tests because the federal government — it was a [woeful] attempt to try to get where we want to be as far as testing,” the Ohio Democrat outlined. “We are, you know, weeks and weeks behind because the president said it was a hoax and we were in denial, so, of course, we’re going to be behind on these things. So, we are lucky to have them. They’re not at a level we want, and we don’t have enough tests that we need here in Ohio. … We think there may be over 100,000 people who would test positive, but we don’t have the tests.”

Ryan stressed, “[H]aving the tests available at the level we need to be able to stop this is really, really important.”

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