HHS Secretary Azar tries to ease testing worries: 'We have the testing capacity to get the job done'

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Azar: We have the testing capacity to get the job done

Health and Human Services Secretary Alex Azar addresses worries surrounding U.S. testing capacity.

Health and Human Services Secretary Alex Azar told "Bill Hemmer Reports" Friday that worries about coronavirus testing capacity expressed in a new Fox News Poll are "not based on the actual realities."

"We've done over 12 million tests in this country, which is unprecedented. We'll do 12 million more just in the coming weeks," Azar told host Trace Gallagher from a testing site in Florida. "We have the testing capacity to get the job done through testing sites like this. We're able to make it more convenient for people and accessible."

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Azar also defended the administration's response, telling Gallagher the White House has "a six-part multifactor plan for how we deal with this.

"First, surveilance. Second, testing. Third, we contain outbreaks. Fourth, we have health care system resilience with capacity and supplies," Azar said. "Fifth, we develop therapeutics to treat people. And then six, we bring vaccines to market under the president's operation warp speed plan."

Azar then turned to a Washington Post op-ed he wrote in which he discussed reopening the economy, saying the lockdown is also having a negative effect on Americans.

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"By being locked in and shut away, we're denying ourselves critical health care services and we end the economic and social dislocation from being shut down is leading to mental illness and suicide risk," he said. "So we've got hundreds of thousands of cancer cases that are not being screened and diagnosed and treated. We have kids who are not getting their pediatric vaccinations. We've got cardiac procedures that are not happening.

"So this country's got to get back to work. We've got to get back to school," he went on. "We've got to get back to living. And there are safe ways to do it thanks to President Trump's response and our governor's leadership."