On Monday, White House Press Secretary Kayleigh McEnany said the comment was made “in jest.”

Well, it turns out that wasn’t a joke after all. Today, Trump doubled down on Twitter and said in an interview he “doesn’t kid” about slowing down testing. Meanwhile, the administration is continuing to ramp down its coronavirus task force even as the U.S. sees a spike in cases.

As of Tuesday, at least 915 North Carolinians are currently hospitalized with COVID-19, more than 1,200 have died and over 54,000 cases of the coronavirus have been confirmed in the state. And for months, Governor Cooper has asked the federal government for more testing kits to help the state contain the spread of the virus.

“With every passing day, Donald Trump seems to underline our country’s desperate need for a new president,” said NCDP Communications Director Austin Cook. “The U.S. has been grappling with this crisis for months, and instead of competent leadership guiding our response, our country has been led by a man whose limited mental capacity clearly prevents him from understanding the severity of the situation. This sort of comment dishonors the more than 120,000 Americans who have already lost their lives to this virus and the millions more – in North Carolina and across the country – who remain at risk of contracting it.”