White House Test Czar Disputes Trump Over Key Reasons Behind Rising Covid Cases



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Trump again falsely claimed in a cheep Monday that the increase in cases in the US is due to “TEST, TEST, TEST.”

When asked about Trump’s tweet during an interview with NBC’s “Today” show on Wednesday, Giroir said that cases and hospitalizations are actually increasing. It also asked the US to increase testing capacity and conduct more testing.

“We believe and the data shows that cases are increasing. It is not just a function of testing. Yes, we are identifying more cases, but cases are actually increasing, and we also know this because hospitalizations are increasing,” said Giroir, recognizing that deaths are also increasing. “Now the peak was 70 thousand in July. We are between 40 and 43,000 now. So, we are much less than July, but those are going up, those are real, and we know that deaths are increasing, unfortunately,” he added.

Giroir also said that the United States can still control the coronavirus pandemic and has the tools to do so. Earlier this week, White House Chief of Staff Mark Meadows told CNN’s Jake Tapper during “State of the Union” that “we are not going to control the pandemic.”

“We can control the virus. We know how to do that,” he said. “Smart policies, very critical to wearing a mask when you can’t physically distance yourself, avoid crowds, like those crowded indoor spaces, wash your hands … We have the tools to combat this. We can control it, but this is a very important time to do what “.

Former CDC director Dr. Thomas Frieden called the federal response to the coronavirus “a colossal failure” on Tuesday, but said “people are getting it” about the importance of wearing masks.

“Only one in ten people don’t wear masks. It’s a small and misguided minority, but actually most people get it,” Frieden told CNN’s Wolf Blitzer on “The Situation Room.” “What we lack is a coordinated federal response.”

As health experts and doctors warn that the impact of the coronavirus could worsen, the White House has continued to ignore advice from health experts on wearing masks, social distancing, and avoiding large gatherings to slow the spread of the virus. . Giroir warned Americans about holding small gatherings indoors as winter approaches and temperatures drop.

“We are entering the winter period. There is more chance of spread, especially indoors and in small gatherings, but we can stop that until we get that safe and effective vaccine, which is right around the corner,” he said. “It may not be this month, but it will be soon.”

CNN’s Andrea Díaz contributed to this report.



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