Testing, By the Numbers

Flanked by large signs proclaiming, “America leads the world in testing,” President Donald Trump said at a May 11 press conference, “we’ve prevailed on testing.” While the United States has done more total tests for COVID-19 than any other country, it doesn’t lead when testing is measured by other metrics.

At the same press briefing, Adm. Brett Giroir, the assistant secretary for health at the Department of Health and Human Services, who is in charge of the government’s testing efforts, said: “No matter how you look at it, America is...