On Wednesday morning, President Trump tweeted, “Just reported that the United States has done far more ‘testing’ than any other nation, by far! In fact, over an eight-day span, the United States now does more testing than what South Korea (which has been a very successful tester) does over an eight-week span. Great job!”
Just reported that the United States has done far more “testing” than any other nation, by far! In fact, over an eight day span, the United States now does more testing than what South Korea (which has been a very successful tester) does over an eight week span. Great job!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) March 25, 2020
Five hours later, comedienne, sometime CNN guest, and infamous Trump critic Kathy Griffin tweeted along with a selfie from a hospital bed that she couldn’t get tested for coronavirus because of the Trump administration.
“He’s lying,” Griffin wrote. “I was sent to the #COVID19 isolation ward room in a major hospital ER from a separate urgent care facility after showing UNBEARABLY PAINFUL symptoms. The hospital couldn’t test me for #coronavirus because of CDC (Pence task force) restrictions. #TESTTESTTEST.”
He’s lying. I was sent to the #COVID19 isolation ward room in a major hospital ER from a separate urgent care facility after showing UNBEARABLY PAINFUL symptoms. The hospital couldn’t test me for #coronavirus because of CDC (Pence task force) restrictions. #TESTTESTTEST https://t.co/18fRiOBsdN pic.twitter.com/0sU9fHu4r0
— Kathy Griffin (@kathygriffin) March 25, 2020
Griffin’s claim was immediately disputed on social media.
Attorney Margot Clevelend, former full-time faculty member and current adjunct professor at the college of business at the University of Notre Dame, snapped, “So, we know this is false because the CDC ‘guidelines’ are clear doctors have discretion to order the test, which makes me wonder: Do the doctors think @kathygriffin: A) is a publicity hound? B) Has Munchausen Syndrome?”
So, we know this if false because the CDC "guidelines" are clear doctors have discretion to order the test, which makes me wonder: Do the doctors think @kathygriffin:
A) Is a publicity hound?
B) Has Munchausen Syndrome? https://t.co/I1nSVKhrOc— Margot Cleveland (@ProfMJCleveland) March 26, 2020
As opposed to Griffin’s claim, the CDC guidelines actually state:
Clinicians considering testing of persons with possible COVID-19 should continue to work with their local and state health departments to coordinate testing through public health laboratories, or use COVID-19 diagnostic testing, authorized by the Food and Drug Administration under an Emergency Use Authorization (EUA) through clinical laboratories. Increasing testing capacity will allow clinicians to consider COVID-19 testing for a wider group of symptomatic patients.
Clinicians should use their judgment to determine if a patient has signs and symptoms compatible with COVID-19 and whether the patient should be tested. Most patients with confirmed COVID-19 have developed fever1 and/or symptoms of acute respiratory illness (e.g., cough, difficulty breathing). Priorities for testing include:
Other considerations that may guide testing are epidemiologic factors such as the occurrence of local community transmission of COVID-19 infections in a jurisdiction. Clinicians are strongly encouraged to test for other causes of respiratory illness.
Also, Griffin’s wild claim that the CDC and Vice-President Pence’s coronavirus task force are one and the same is patently false.
I have….. questions. https://t.co/cM7VGoaOcb
— EducatëdHillbilly™ (@RobProvince) March 26, 2020
Griffin has had issues with President Trump since he first came into office. After Trump’s address to Congress in February 2017, Griffin told MSNBC’s Chris Matthews, “I’m a big resister and I don’t believe in compromise with this president. I also think he’s crazy. I think he’s mentally ill. He’s also an idiot.”
In May 2017, she infamously posed with a gory, bloody, decapitated head of Trump. She apologized soon after the incident, but by August 2017 she had resumed her defiant attitude, telling Australia’s “Sunrise Live” that she wasn’t sorry for the infamous photo of her, saying, “I’m no longer sorry. The whole outrage was B.S. The whole thing got so blown out of proportion.”
In March 2018, appearing with host Bill Maher on HBO’s Real Time, Griffin joked that her next photoshoot would feature Mike Pence’s severed head, adding, “Just kidding! Ten months I waited to do that joke. Ten months!”