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President Donald Trump has publicly disassociated himself from the battle against the coronavirus at a time when the disease is spreading across the United States at an alarming rate.
President Donald Trump plays a round of golf at Trump National Golf Club in Sterling Virginia. Source: Associated Press
Trump, fresh from his re-election loss to President-elect Joe Biden, remains angry that an announcement about progress on developing a vaccine for the disease came after Election Day. And attendees say the president has shown little interest in the growing crisis, even as new confirmed cases are skyrocketing and hospital intensive care units in some parts of the country are nearing capacity.
Public health experts worry that Trump’s refusal to take aggressive action on the pandemic or coordinate with Biden’s team during the last two months of his presidency will only worsen the effects of the virus and hamper the nation’s ability to distribute. quickly a vaccine next year.
The White House coronavirus task force held its first post-election meeting on Tuesday. Officials discussed the growing number of cases and the promise of a vaccine under development by Pfizer, and acknowledged the service of Navy Rear Admiral John Polowczyk, a member of the task force who retired Tuesday.
But Trump, who does not participate in the task force meetings, remains concerned about the results of last week’s election. He has yet to weigh in on the recent spike in virus cases that has state and local officials struggling and hospitals concerned about their ability to treat those affected.
With more than 100,000 new confirmed cases in the US reported daily for more than a week, Trump has become more focused on tracking the launch of a vaccine, which will not be widely available for months. It’s enraged that Pfizer intentionally withheld an announcement about the progress of its vaccine test until after Election Day, according to a White House official who was not authorized to comment publicly and spoke on condition of anonymity. Pfizer said it did not deliberately withhold the trial results.
Although the president has consistently downplayed the pandemic, which has killed more than 240,000 Americans and infected more than 10 million people in the US, public health experts raised concerns about Trump’s silence on the troubling increase. in cases, as well as their refusal to start. coordinating virus issues with Biden’s transition team.
“It’s a big problem,” said Dr. Abraar Karan, a global health specialist at Brigham and Women’s Hospital and Harvard Medical School. “The transition won’t happen until January, and right now we are in a total crisis. We already know where this is going. … It is not enough to say that we are going to wait until the next president to address this. “
The president’s silence comes as numerous White House and campaign officials tested positive for the virus in recent days.
White House Chief of Staff Mark Meadows tested positive last week after attending an election night party at the White House. Others in the party also tested positive, including White House political director Brian Jack, former White House aide Healy Baumgardner, and Trump campaign advisers David Bossie and Corey Lewandowski. Lewandowski said today that he believes he contracted the virus in Philadelphia while attending the president’s election challenge there.
Meanwhile, state and local officials across the country are fighting back amid a growing number of cases. As Trump remains silent, they urge their residents to step up mask wear and social distancing, as they prepare for what many epidemiologists worry about is the beginning of a tumultuous period.
In New York, Governor Andrew Cuomo issued an order beginning Friday for bars, restaurants and gyms to close at 10 p.m. and has set a 10-person limit for private gatherings. In Illinois, public health officials asked employers to allow their staff to work from home when possible and urged residents to stay home as much as possible and avoid nonessential travel.
In Iowa, Republican Gov. Kim Reynolds, who resisted coronavirus restrictions, announced earlier this week that masks will now be required at indoor events of more than 25 people, and banned outdoor events of 100 or more people unless have all attendees wear masks.
Trump has not answered questions since before Election Day. That hasn’t stopped his Twitter habit, but he’s used it almost exclusively in recent days to rage against election results and spread unsubstantiated allegations of voter fraud.
By late afternoon today, Trump had tweeted or retweeted more than three dozen times that day. Only one was related to the virus: a retweet of a post by Senator David Perdue about Georgia receiving 2,000 vials of a new antibody treatment.
White House officials declined to comment Thursday on when Trump last engaged with members of the coronavirus task force, but insisted he remains focused on the pandemic.
“The president receives regular information about the coronavirus,” said White House spokeswoman Sarah Matthews. “You are given the relevant information on the big decisions, and then you move forward in the way that is best for our country.”
The White House announced tonight that Trump would receive an update tomorrow on Operation Warp Speed, the effort by various agencies to bring a vaccine to market as quickly and safely as possible.
In the final days of the campaign, Trump tried to reassure Americans that the country was “turning the corner” from the virus and wrongly predicted that the Democrats’ focus on the disease would disappear immediately after the election.
The president lobbied with a cheerful public tone even after he tested positive for the virus in early October and was hospitalized for three days after contracting the virus. His wife, Melania, and their teenage son, Barron, also contracted the virus.
Biden, for his part, largely framed the election as a referendum on Trump’s handling of the pandemic. You have made addressing the virus your top priority as you move forward with your transition. He spoke by phone today with House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer about the escalation of the pandemic and the prospects of passing a Covid-19 relief bill in the session of Congress.
Biden and Vice President-elect Kamala Harris met virtually with their new coronavirus advisers this week, and Biden delivered remarks warning Americans that “the challenge before us right now remains immense and growing.”
“We could save tens of thousands of lives if everyone wore a mask over the next few months. Not Democratic or Republican lives, American lives, ”Biden said in a speech this week. “Please, I implore you, wear a mask.”
Incoming White House Chief of Staff Ron Klain said Biden will appoint a “Covid coordinator” who will lead the administration’s response to the pandemic. Klain, speaking on MSNBC tonight, said the person will have “direct access” to the president and will brief him on the pandemic daily. A team of people under the coordinator will oversee vaccine distribution, address supply chain disruptions, and improve access to testing.
Lawrence Gostin, a public health expert at Georgetown University School of Law, said Biden will only be able to “scratch the surface” to tackle a pandemic that could be a “raging wildfire” when he takes office on January 20. .
He added that even the good news about Pfizer developing a vaccine that showed 90 percent efficacy in early trial results could be lessened if Trump doesn’t begin coordinating efforts with Biden’s team on how to implement. the vaccine. Some public health experts believe that the task of persuading Americans to take the vaccine and distribute it widely could be just as complicated as developing the vaccine.
“I am afraid that the next three months could be the worst we have faced during the pandemic,” Gostin said. “America is like a ship in a storm, and the captain has decided to go play golf.”
