PHOENIX — Former Vice President and presumptive Democratic presidential nominee Joe Biden released a statement Wednesday criticizing Arizona's "testing failures" and calling on President Donald Trump to take action.
Biden's statement takes specific aim at the Trump administration to "immediately resume operating federally-managed community-based testing around the country and establish multiple sites in Arizona."
His remarks came the same day that a New York Times report placed Arizona as the number one global pandemic hotspot.
"The crisis in Arizona is the direct result of Donald Trump's failure to lead and his desire to 'slow the testing down,' and Americans are suffering the consequences," Biden said in the Wednesday afternoon statement.
Read Biden's full statement below:
Arizonans have been forced to endure 13 hours in line in the boiling heat for a COVID-19 test, hospitals are overwhelmed, the test positivity rate is soaring, and the pleas of local leaders for help were repeatedly dismissed. Enough. The Trump Administration must immediately resume operating federally-managed community-based testing around the country and establish multiple sites in Arizona. It must open them in every hot spot in the country and in every underserved community, and it must keep increasing the number of testing sites until there are no more lines. The crisis in Arizona is the direct result of Donald Trump's failure to lead and his desire to "slow the testing down," and Americans are suffering the consequences. The President must act.