Navarro: CDC ‘Really Let the Country Down’ on Coronavirus Testing Early On

Sunday on NBC’s “Meet the Press,” White House trade adviser Peter Navarro said the Center for Disease Control (CDC) “really let the country down” over coronavirus testing.

Host Chuck Todd asked, “It does seem as if the initial guidelines, they didn’t want them put out. They’ve put down very limited guidelines with more detailed ones coming later. CDC hasn’t been able to give a briefing now in over a month. Does the president have confidence in the CDC as our lead on this pandemic?”

Navarro said, “Well, I’d say two things about that, first of all, you should ask the president that question, not me. Early on in this crisis, the CDC, which really had the most trusted brand around the world in this space, really let the country down with the testing. Because not only did they keep the testing within the bureaucracy, they had a bad test. And that did set us back.”

He added, “Going forward with these guidelines, the important thing to understand here for the American people is this — opening up this economy is not a question of lives versus jobs. The fact of the matter is, and what President Trump realized early on is that if you lock people down, you may save lives directly from the China virus, but you indirectly are going to kill a lot more people.”

Follow Pam Key on Twitter @pamkeyNEN