More people are getting COVID-19 tests after Trump was diagnosed, reports show

Doctors and coronavirus test site workers say they’ve noticed an unexpected trend since President Donald Trump was diagnosed with COVID-19 — more people are getting tested.

While experts debate the potential consequences of Trump’s COVID-19 diagnosis on his re-election bid against Joe Biden, his very public bout with the disease seems to have had a much more immediate effect on coronavirus testing.

After a few days at Walter Reed Military Medical Center, receiving top of the line medical care, Trump walked out on Monday, pumped his fist victoriously, and soon tweeted to the public “don’t be afraid” of the coronavirus.

But reports from hospitals and testing sites around the country suggest that for many, seeing the president fall ill was motivation to get tested themselves.

In South Carolina — where Trump won the popular vote in 2016 by about 14% — doctors noticed a significant increase in people coming in to get tested, and scheduling appointments to do so, in the days since Trump was diagnosed with COVID-19, The State reported.

With Trump and his wife, Melania, infected, and many others close and not-so-close to the president also testing positive, residents are taking the virus more seriously, Dr. Saria Saccocio, ambulatory chief medical officer at Prisma Health Greenville, told The State.

“The best recommendation is to be tested,” she said. “Thanks to President Trump, there is an increased awareness that COVID-19 is still with us.”

The CenturyLink Sports Complex, which serves as a testing site in Fort Myers, Florida, also saw a spike in testing, NBC 2 reported. Many at the site pointed to the president and the first lady as their motivation for going.

“If it proves to people on the right side of politics that don’t want to get tested and don’t want to wear masks,” Andrew Scoggin, who was tested at the site, told NBC 2. “If that is their person and their idol can get COVID… I hope everyone goes and get tested.”

Lines grew longer in Arlington Heights, Illinois after news of Trump’s diagnosis, the Daily Herald reported — though not to the same degree as South Carolina and Fort Myers.

These testing surges align with early October polling that indicates Republicans, and perhaps Americans in general, take the virus more seriously now than in previous weeks and months.

According to an ABC News and Ipsos poll released Sunday, 81% of Americans said they were “concerned” about being infected, compared to 72% just two weeks before.

As of Tuesday, more than 210,000 Americans have died due to the coronavirus, and nearly 7.5 million have been infected, according to Johns Hopkins University.

The number of tests conducted in the U.S. has been steadily increasing since the start of the pandemic, but reached an all-time high in early October, Johns Hopkins data shows.

This story was originally published October 6, 2020 at 2:37 PM with the headline "More people are getting COVID-19 tests after Trump was diagnosed, reports show."