Weakling CDC Director Promises Free Coronavirus Testing After Grilling By Woman With a Whiteboard

The CDC, which now faces budget cuts despite the ongoing pandemic, also faced the questioning Rep. Katie Porter today, who managed to extricate a promise from director Dr. Robert Redfield that the institution will waive coronavirus testing costs for all Americans. A test, by the way, costs roughly $1,331. As Porter exclaimed: “I did the math!”

Porter’s math includes the costs of blood tests, metabolic panels, flu tests, as well as emergency room visits. As she notes repeatedly, this cost multiplies exponentially when faced by families, or those who must undergo quarantine.

Like Trump, who has spent the last two months twiddling his ugly little thumbs while healthcare professionals across the globe sounded the alarm about a possible pandemic, Redfield had little answers or solutions to Porter’s inquiry. Like father like son, I suppose, if you think of all these goons in the Trump administration as extensions of his dastardly family.

In the end, however, he caved, which anyone would likely do when facing down a woman with a whiteboard, dry erase marker, and bucketloads of math. Meanwhile, Trump has still not declared a state of emergency, instead content with calling covid-19 a “foreign disease” and closing off travel to afflicted European countries. At least, for now, testing should be free—until the CDC runs out of tests, which unfortunately will probably happen very soon. Stay safe everyone! [Slate]

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In an address this afternoon, Bernie Sanders demanded that all coronavirus vaccines and treatments eventually be made free and immediately accessible to the public. Wouldn’t Medicare for All be nice right now?

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• Biden and Bernie move debate out of Arizona for fear of coronavirus. [CNN]
• The very first online U.S. Census has arrived. [Reuters]
• Youtube will allow ads on videos about coronavirus. [The Hill]