An emergency room doctor who works at New York-Presbyterian Hospital ripped into the Trump administration on Monday for being woefully behind in its preparations for dealing with coronavirus.
During an appearance on CNBC, Dr. Matthew McCarthy said that he and his colleagues at NY-Presbyterian do not have the proper tools to quickly diagnose patients with coronavirus.
"Before I came here this morning, I was in the emergency room seeing patients," he said. "I still do not have rapid diagnostic test available to me."
He then explained that the Centers for Disease Control ignored World Health Organization testing guidelines and decided to send out its own test to hospitals around the country. This turned out to be an epic blunder, however, as the CDC's tests were so flawed that they had to tell hospitals to not use them.
"I'm here to tell you, right now, in one of the biggest hospitals in the country, I don't have it at my fingertips," he said. "I still have to call the Department of Health, I still have to make my case, plead to test people -- this is not good!"
He then said that the United States' response to coronavirus compares extremely poorly with the responses he's seen in other countries.
"In New York state, the person who tested positive was only the 32nd test we've done in this state!" he said. "That is a national scandal! They're testing 10,000 a day in some countries."
Watch the video below.
