Kathy Griffin says that she is currently in a novel coronavirus (COVID-19) “isolation ward room” after exhibiting symptoms for the contagious respiratory virus.
The comedian, 59, shared a selfie from the room on Instagram on Wednesday, calling out Donald Trump in the process for a lack of available COVID-19 tests in the United States.
“He’s lying,” Griffin claimed in her caption, in response to a recent tweet from Trump, in which he said that the U.S. has provided more testing than any other country.
“Just reported that the United States has done far more ‘testing’ than any other nation, by far!” Trump wrote in the tweet. “In fact, over an eight day span, the United States now does more testing than what South Korea (which has been a very successful tester) does over an eight week span. Great job!”
Trump, however, failed to note the vast difference in population between the two countries. The U.S. is also not officially keeping track of testing numbers.
According to the COVID Tracking Project, there have been 472,820 tests done in the U.S., with 64,180 coming out positive.
Griffin continued to say in her caption that she was unable to get tested, despite exhibiting symptoms, because of restrictions set by the Centers for Disease Control.
“I was sent to the #COVID19 isolation ward room in a major hospital ER from a separate urgent care facility after showing UNBEARABLY PAINFUL symptoms,” Griffin wrote. “The hospital couldn’t test me for #coronavirus because of CDC (Pence task force) restrictions. #TESTTESTTEST.”
The CDC was criticized for restricting who was able to get tested in the early days of the virus in the U.S., but has since lifted those restrictions and quicker tests are being developed.
“Clinicians should use their judgment to determine if a patient has signs and symptoms compatible with COVID-19 and whether the patient should be tested,” the CDC website says.
As information about the coronavirus pandemic rapidly changes, PEOPLE is committed to providing the most recent data in our coverage. Some of the information in this story may have changed after publication. For the latest on COVID-19, readers are encouraged to use online resources from CDC, WHO, and local public health departments and visit our coronavirus hub.
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