Leading U.S. health officials told lawmakers that the coronavirus task force was never told to slow down COVID-19 testing, as they testified on  Capitol Hill Tuesday in Washington. Tuesday's testimony before a congressional panel appeared to contradict the message from the U.S. president.

President Trump on Saturday told thousands of supporters he had asked U.S. officials to slow down testing for the novel coronavirus, calling it a "double-edged sword" that led to more cases being discovered. 

He told a reporter on Monday he was not joking. "I don't kid, let me just tell you, let me make it clear."

But Dr. Anthony Fauci, Director of the National Institute for Allergy and Infectious Diseases, told U.S. lawmakers, "None of us have ever been told to slow down on testing."

In a recent interview with financial and business news website TheStreet, Fauci said the reason why the government didn't promote face masks to everyone was because of a shortage particularly for health care workers at the beginning of the pandemic.

"The reason for that is that we were concerned the public health community, and many people were saying this, were concerned that it was at a time when personal protective equipment, including the N95 masks and the surgical masks, were in very short supply," Fauci said.

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) and government officials didn’t encourage the public to wear face masks at the beginning of the epidemic.

"The average American does not need to go out and buy a mask," Vice President Mike Pence told reporters at a White House coronavirus briefing on February 29.

"You can increase your risk of getting it by wearing a mask if you are not a health care provider," U.S. Surgeon General Jerome Adams said in March. "Folks who don't know how to wear them properly tend to touch their faces a lot and actually can increase the spread of coronavirus," he added.

But in early April, the Trump administration changed its advice as face masks became more available.

The White House suggested Americans wear masks when venturing out during the early days of the pandemic, even though President Trump has steadfastly refused to do so in public.

COVID-19 continues to spread across the U.S.. More than a dozen states have reported increases in coronavirus cases. This has caused fears that a second wave may be on the way, something the White House doesn't agree with. 

In the Wall Street Journal last week, Vice President Mike Pence wrote an op-ed piece headlined "There Isn't a Coronavirus 'Second Wave." He said the nation is winning the fight against the virus.

But Fauci said, "When you have 20,000-plus infections per day, how can you talk about a second wave? We're in the first wave. Let's get out of the first wave before you have a second wave."

Some worry a new spike of COVID-19 will occur again as more businesses reopen. U.S. officials also expressed concern about a potential surge in cases stemming from the nationwide racial protests over the police death of George Floyd, an unarmed African American, in May.