President Trump says that cases are going up because the U.S. does more testing than any other country. Is it true that rising numbers of Covid-19 nationwide are attributable only to more tests?

Joe Patterson, Ph.D.:

Blaming the increase in COVID-19 cases on testing is like saying there are more stars in the night sky when your eyes aren’t closed. There is an increase in the number of hospitalizations across the country due to COVID-19. Increased testing did not cause the increase in hospitalization, COVID-19 did. What increased testing does is put a name to the reason for the hospitalizations, help individuals and states prepare for what to expect, inform our understanding about the virus and disease, and hopefully lead to self-isolation of individuals who came in contact with the person who tests positive.

I think rather than blame increased testing, we should be looking at failures in personal responsibility present in the country, such as the resistance to wearing masks, engaging in high-risk behaviors, unnecessary travel, attending mass gatherings where proper social distancing is not enforced, and forgetting the pandemic is still here and going strong. I feel these are the real underlying cause of the increase in cases.