Relying on testing to ward off COVID put Trump White House at risk

FILE PHOTO: U.S. President Donald Trump boards the Marine One helicopter to depart the White House and fly to Walter Reed National Military Medical Center, where it was announced he will stay for at least several days after testing positive for the coronavirus disease (COVID-19), on the South Lawn of the White House in Washington, U.S., October 2, 2020. REUTERS/Leah Millis

(Reuters) - Early in the coronavirus pandemic, U.S. President Donald Trump put his faith in a toaster-sized machine that could spit out test results in a matter of minutes.

In late March, Trump hailed the launch of Abbott Laboratories’ ID NOW test at a Rose Garden event and embraced its widespread use at the White House to keep the deadly virus at bay. The president often skipped his own administration’s public health recommendations on mask wearing and social distancing, explaining that “everyone’s tested” around him using the Abbott device.