Health officials and scientists working on the Trump administration’s coronavirus response say they are offended by the White House’s announcement. White House officials say that the administration has successfully ended the COVID-19 pandemic. That is despite the pandemic is, in fact, worsening.
The White House Office of Science and Technology Policy released a statement on Tuesday afternoon. It said they consider “ending the COVID-19 pandemic” to be one of President Donald Trump’s major first term accomplishments.
The office released a corresponding report that listed achievements of the Trump administration in the area of science and innovation.
One official says they find it “mind-boggling” the White House can assert that it had ended the pandemic.
“There’s no world in which anyone can think that [statement] is true. Maybe the president. But I don’t see how even he can believe that [because] we have more than 70,000 new cases each day.”
American news website, The Daily Beast, was speaking to four officials working with the White House coronavirus task force. They viewed the statement as a personal slight and a public rebuke of their efforts to try and control the virus.
In the report, the Office of Science and Technology Policy had this to say:
“From the outset of the COVID-19 pandemic, the Administration has taken decisive actions to engage scientists and health professionals in academic, industry, and government to understand, treat and defeat the disease.”
Officials who work with the task force say the president and his team have often refused to listen to them. That he ignores their advice in favour of efforts to reopen the country.
They say they have tried to convince the American public for more than seven months to take COVID-19 seriously. They argue that the virus would only begin to subside if people listened to their warnings. These are to wear masks, socially distance, and observe quarantine rules.
Officials described the report as the latest example of the president and his team refusing to acknowledge the damage. The U.S. is experiencing a worrying resurgence of the virus.
They add the document emphasises the White House’s beliefs that nothing more can be done to contain the pandemic. Trump is now solely focused on cutting the death rate by protecting the most vulnerable, namely those in nursing homes.
Former director of the Centres for Disease Control, Dr. Tom Frieden notes that we have exploding case counts so, death rates will undoubtedly rise.
“They are living in a parallel universe that bears no relation to the reality that Americans are living,” he said. “And this idea that we should let it spread and protect the vulnerable is a really dangerous mistake. The idea that it [containing the virus] can’t be done ignores reality.”
